Navigation lights and shape can appear straightforward but don’t be fooled. There are some tricky elements to this part of the COLREGs. Knowing them inside out will improve your assessment results and impress your team when you are sailing at night.
What, when and where?
A common area of confusion is masthead lights‘Masthead light’ means a white light placed over the fore and aft centerline of the vessel showing an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of 225 degrees and so fixed as to show the light from right ahead to 22.5 degrees abaft the beam on either side of the vessel. More, some vessels show them all the time, others sometimes and some never at all. There seems to be know rhyme nor reason.
Fishing vessels are also prime suspects for navigation light confusion. Although rule 26 is quite clear in its language, it allows for several possible combinations of lights.
A good way to make sure you completely understand this area is to sketch out all the possibilities. We have created some worksheets to guide you through this process. As you draw out the different configurations pay close attention to the similarities and differences. Can you see any patterns or relationships?
Navigation lights and visual learning
Lights and shapes are all about what we see so visual learning aids work really well. Flash cards are a really effective way of learning and revising this area of the COLREGs. With cards you can quickly review the visual elements of the lights and then connect them to the regulations. Get access to 100s of digital flash cards with a Master COLREGs membership.
Besides flash cards there are some other great ways to use visuals. Let’s take a vesselThe word ‘vessel includes every description of water craft, including non-displacement craft, WIG craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water’. ‘restricted in its ability to manoeuvre’ as an example. When we draw out the lights, shapes and signals there is an obvious pattern.
Each combination has three elements. You can also think of the vessel type as three letters, Restricted in Ability to Manoeuvre (RAM). To make this extra memorable we can create an image that helps us remember all of these elements together.
Think of a big woolly angry RAM, he is furious because he has a diamond lodged between his balls. This sharp little diamond is glinting in the sun and standing out as a white spot against two irritated bright red balls. The ram is so angry that he keeps screaming out baaaaaaaaah bah bah.
A ridiculous but memorable image.
As you draw out the navigation lights and shapes these associations and unwritten rules will jump out. Use this information to create images that will stick in your mind ready for the next test.
For some further examples of images and stories take a look out our How to remember COLREGS video series.
Navigation lights and shapes the final words...
Learning ship navigation lights, shapes and signals is a stumbling block for most maritime students. It is important to get into the detail and try and spot the patterns. Visual aids are very helpful in the process flash cards, worksheets, videos, stories and images are all effective ways of learning and remembering this area of the COLREGs.
Good luck with your studies.