[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 33, Volume 1]

[Revised as of July 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 33CFR62.45]



[Page 150]

 

                TITLE 33--NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS

 

         CHAPTER I--COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

 

PART 62_UNITED STATES AIDS TO NAVIGATION SYSTEM--Table of Contents

 

              Subpart B_The U.S. Aids to Navigation System

 

Sec. 62.45  Light characteristics.



    (a) Lights on aids to navigation are differentiated by color and 

rhythm. Lighthouses and range lights may display distinctive light 

characteristics to facilitate recognition. No special significance 

should be attached to the color or rhythm of such lights. Other lighted 

aids to navigation employ light characteristics to convey additional 

information.

    (b) When proceeding in the Conventional Direction of Buoyage, aids 

to navigation, if lighted, display light characteristics as follows:

    (1) Green lights mark port (left) sides of channels and locations of 

wrecks or obstructions which are to be passed by keeping these lights on 

the port (left) hand of a vessel. Green lights are also used on 

Preferred Channel Marks where the topmost band is green.

    (2) Red lights mark starboard (right) sides of channels and 

locations of wrecks or obstructions which are to be passed by keeping 

these lights on the starboard (right) hand of a vessel. Red lights are 

also used on Preferred Channel Marks where the topmost band is red.

    (3) Certain lights marking the Intracoastal Waterway may display 

reversed lateral significance. See Sec. 62.49.

    (c) Yellow lights have no lateral significance. Except on the 

Western Rivers, see Sec. 62.51, white lights have no lateral 

significance. The purpose of aids exhibiting white or yellow lights may 

be determined by their shape, color, letters or numbers, and the light 

rhythm employed.

    (d) Light rhythms, except as noted in Sec. 62.51 for the Western 

Rivers, are employed as follows:

    (1) Aids with lateral significance display regularly flashing or 

regularly occulting light rhythms. Ordinarily, flashing lights 

(frequency not exceeding 30 flashes per minute) will be used.

    (2) Preferred Channel Marks display a composite group flashing light 

rhythm (groups of two flashes followed by one flash).

    (3) Safe Water Marks display a white Morse Code ``A'' rhythm (short-

long flash).

    (4) Isolated Danger Marks display a white group flashing two.

    (5) Special Marks display yellow lights with fixed or slow flashing 

rhythm preferred.

    (6) Mooring Buoys and Information and Regulatory Marks display white 

lights of various rhythms.

    (7) For situations where lights require a distinct cautionary 

significance, as at sharp turns, sudden channel constrictions, wrecks, 

or obstructions, a quick flashing light rhythm (60 flashes per minute) 

may be used.

    (e) Occasionally lights use sectors to mark shoals or warn mariners 

of other dangers. Lights so equipped show one color from most directions 

and a different color or colors over definite arcs of the horizon as 

indicated on the appropriate nautical chart. These sectors provide 

approximate bearing information since the observer should note a change 

of color as the boundary between the sectors is crossed. As sector 

bearings are not precise, they should be considered a warning only and 

not used to determine exact bearing to the light.

    (f) Aids to navigation may be fitted with light-reflecting material 

to increase their visibility in darkness. Green or red reflective 

material is used only on marks which, if lighted, would exhibit a light 

of that color. Yellow reflective material is used on special marks and 

on Intracoastal Waterway marks. No significance is attached to white 

reflective material.



[CGD 86-031, 52 FR 42640, Nov. 6, 1987, as amended by CGD 88-018, 54 FR 

48608, Nov. 24, 1989; CGD 97-018, 63 FR 33573, June 19, 1998]