Concluding our summer series on water safety, our final focus is on water traffic signals – red and green markers. Most markers and buoys you see are either red or green, and these colors help identify which side you need to pass on to stay in a channel.

As a rule of thumb, when you are going from open water into inland waters or upstream in a river, you should keep the red markers on your right and the green markers on your left. So if you are going from the sea into a bay, or from a bay into a creek, harbor or port, the red markers belong on your right.

Red colors, lights and even numbers – These mark the edge or channel on the starboard (right) side when entering from the open sea or heading upstream.

Green colors, lights and odd numbers – The edge of the channel is on the port side (left) when entering from the open sea or heading upstream.

Red and green colors with lights – These navigation aids are located at the intersection of two channels and indicate the preferred channel where the channels split. In this case, the color that is highest on the markers indicates the preferred or primary channel.

This is where the old saying “red right back” comes from. This universal expression helps inexperienced boaters learn how to navigate and use the aids. This expression refers to the fact that when entering a channel from the open sea or when traveling upstream, a boater must keep the red aids on the starboard (right) side of the boat.

There are variations of the U.S. Coast Guard AIS. On the Mississippi and its tributaries above Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and several other rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico, boaters must follow a system called the Western Rivers Marking System. The numbers displayed below the daymarks in this system do not refer to the right or left side of the channel. Instead, these numbers indicate the distance from the river mouth.

An exception is the Ohio River, where the distance to the source area is given.
The Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) is a chain of local canals connected to provide an inland passage along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. Channels that are part of the ICW are identified by yellow symbols on channel buoys and markers. Note that the color of the buoys usually follows a “red, right, back” pattern.

Play it safe by being safety conscious. When you come across a colored buoy, read it, respond accordingly, and you will be a safe boater.