[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: 33CFR66.10-15]



[Page 162-163]

 

                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



[[Page 163]]



the head of 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 the 

user 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 the user 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 the operator must pass to the south or west of the buoy.

    (2) A white buoy with a black top may be used to indicate to a 

vessel operator that the operator 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 the 

operator 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; USCG-2001-10714, 69 FR 24982, May 5, 2004]