IALA Buoyage Regions

List of Marks

IALA Buoyage Marks

IALA Regions

IALA A and B

Port Hand Mark

Starboard Hand Mark

Pref. Channel Port

Pref. Channel Starboard

North Cardinal

South Cardinal

East Cardinal

West Cardinal

Isolated Danger Mark

Safe Water Mark

Fairway Buoy

Temporary Wreck Buoy

Special Mark

IALA Buoyage Regions

Below is a chart showing a typical buoyed entrance to a marina.

If we want to make any sense of it we need to learn about the buoys and how to recognise them at sea by day, by night, and on the chart.

Online Marine Glossary

One of the great mysteries of the marine world is the use of special terms that often do not seem to be intuitive. It is great fun for experienced sailors to confuse new-comers. But, this can make the learning process harder as people struggle with both new terms and new concepts at the same time.

To help, we have our online glossary freely available that helps to de-mystify the terms, or to find out when someone is making fun of you. We do add to it regularly with new terms and content, and it is one of the most comprehensive free marine glossaries going around.

Navigation Light and sound Flip Cards

Navigation lights can be one of the most challenging things to learn given all the different scenarios, configurations and aspects. It can be very challenging to learn them all, but we help to make it easier by breaking it down into the component lights, and to provide online flip cards that you can work through to test yourself on each different scenario.

• The red and white lights on the edges indicate that it is a head on aspect
• The red white red lights in a vertical configuration indicate that the vessel is restricted in it's ability to manoeuvre
• The three white lights in a vertical configuration indicate that the vessel is a towing vessel with the overall length of tow being more than 200 metres in length
• The single white light confirms that it is a power driven vessel, however given the other light arrangements, the length of the towing vessel can not be confirmed.

Click or tap the image to reveal the answer.

The flip cards are also available in the NAVatHOME Australia mobile phone app.

Navathome Australia Mobile App

To help support both your course, and your on water experience, we have developed the Navathome Australia mobile app. This app is completely free, no adverts, no registration, and no capturing of your data. It has lots of tools to help with your course and time on the water

• Local Tide Information
• Dynamic Tide Calculator
• Electronic store of your certificates and qualifications
• Logbook
• Navigation Light Flip Cards
• Marine Knot Instruction Videos
• Collision Regulations Scenarios
• Buoyage information
• Checklists

The NAVatHOME Australia mobile application is available for both Apple and Android

RYA accredited Instructor Support

Your course comes with specialised instructor support. All our instructors are RYA accredited navigation instructors, and RYA Yachtmasters with plenty of onwater experience. Our focus is not just to give you the knowledge but to make sure you apply it in a practical way. Any time you get stuck, help is only an email away and our team will respond with a detailed breakdown of the process.