Lateral buoys: red on the right, going upstream

Grant is forty-eight, and he's rented a cottage and a runabout on the Saint Lawrence for a week. On his first morning out, he's following a buoyed channel between the islands. Ahead, there's a red buoy on one side and a green one on the other. He knows one of them is supposed to be on his right. He just can't remember which, and the gap is closing.

So here's the question. Which side does each colour go on? And when the rule says going upstream, how do you know which way that is?

The rule comes from the Canadian Coast Guard's aids to navigation system, and Transport Canada's Safe Boating Guide teaches it the same way. Going upstream, keep red buoys on your right, your starboard side, and green buoys on your left, your port side. Upstream means heading in from the sea, toward the source of a river, or into a harbour. Heading the other way, the sides swap.

Shape helps as well as colour. A red buoy may be a cone, pointed on top, which is why some boaters call it a nun. A green buoy may be a can, flat on top. Either colour can also be a tall pillar or a thin spar. At night, lit red buoys show red lights, and lit green buoys show green.

The numbers help too. Red buoys carry even numbers, and green buoys carry odd numbers. The numbers get bigger as you go upstream. So if you pass red four and then red six, you're heading upstream. If the next red buoy is two, you're heading down.

Three more marks. A bifurcation buoy, banded red and green, marks where a channel splits. You can pass either side, and the top band's colour shows the main channel. A fairway buoy has wide red and white vertical stripes and a red ball on top. It marks safe water. Keep it on your left going either way. An isolated danger buoy is black with a broad red band and two black balls on top, over a small danger with water all around it.

On the water. Here's my home-river caution. By the Coast Guard's general definition, heading up the Saint Lawrence from the sea toward Lake Ontario is going upstream. But among the islands and side channels, and out on the Great Lakes, don't guess. Check your chart for the direction of buoyage. The chart shows each buoy's colour and number. From the helm, I read the next buoy's number before I reach it, and I check it against the chart.

Let's change one fact. It's evening, and Grant is heading back the other way, downstream to the cottage. Now the sides flip. Red buoys go on his left, and green on his right. Same buoys, same channel, opposite sides, because he's travelling in the opposite direction.

The mistake boaters make is remembering half the rule. They learn red on the right and forget the words going upstream. Coming home downstream, that half-rule puts them on the wrong side of every buoy. And the phrase red right returning isn't the wording the Canadian Coast Guard uses. Learn it as going upstream.

Here's the rule, in one breath. Going upstream, red on your right and green on your left, the numbers get bigger as you go, and when you're not sure which way is upstream, the chart decides.

This week, at a dock, or on a free practice chart from the Canadian Hydrographic Service, point at each red and green mark and say out loud which side you'd keep it on, going upstream and coming back down. Next time, the yellow and black buoys, the white and orange ones, and reading a chart.