[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 33, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 33CFR66.10-15]

[Page 160-161]
 
                TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
 
         CHAPTER I--COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
 
PART 66--PRIVATE AIDS TO NAVIGATION--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart 66.10--Uniform State Waterway Marking System
 
Sec. 66.10-15  Aids to navigation.

    (a) USWMS aids to navigation may have lateral or cardinal meaning.
    (b) On a well defined channel including a river or other relatively 
narrow natural or improved waterway, an aid to navigation shall normally 
be a solid colored buoy. A buoy which marks the left side of the channel 
viewed looking upstream or toward the head of navigation shall be 
colored all black. A buoy which marks the right side of the channel 
viewed looking upstream or toward the head of a navigation shall be 
colored all red. On a well defined channel, solid colored buoys shall be 
established in pairs, one on each side of the navigable channel which 
they mark, and opposite each other to inform the user that the channel 
lies between the buoys and that he should pass between the buoys.
    (c) On an irregularly defined channel, solid colored buoys may be 
used singly in staggered fashion on alternate sides of the channel 
provided they are spaced at sufficiently close intervals to inform the 
user that the channel lies between the buoys and that he should pass 
between the buoys.
    (d) Where there is no well-defined channel or when a body of water 
is obstructed by objects whose nature or location is such that the 
obstruction can be approached by a vessel from more than one direction, 
supplemental aids to navigation having cardinal meaning (i.e., 
pertaining to the cardinal points of the compass, north, east, south, 
and west) may be used. The use of an aid to navigation having cardinal 
meaning is discretionary provided that the use of such a marker is 
limited to wholly State owned waters and the State waters for private 
aids to navigation as defined and described in this part.
    (e) Aids to navigation conforming to the cardinal system shall 
consist of three distinctly colored buoys.
    (1) A white buoy with a red top may be used to indicate to a vessel 
operator that he must pass to the south or west of the buoy.

[[Page 161]]

    (2) A white buoy with a black top may be used to indicate to a 
vessel operator that he must pass to the north or east of the buoy.
    (3) In addition, a buoy showing alternate vertical red and white 
stripes may be used to indicate to a vessel operator that an obstruction 
to navigation extends from the nearest shore to the buoy and that he 
must not pass between the buoy and shore. The number of white and red 
stripes is discretionary, provided that the white stripes are twice the 
width of the red stripes.

[CGFR 66-32, 31 FR 10321, July 30, 1966, as amended by CGD 97-018, 63 FR 
33574, June 19, 1998]