New York Safe Boating - 2020 - 50

RULES OF THE ROAD

Night Lights
It was getting dark as Stephen steered his 40 foot sport fisherman out of the harbor. Stephen had enjoyed taking
his friends on this voyage to attend their 25th college reunion. They'd had a great weekend, and everyone but
Stephen and Vinnie were "sleeping it off" on the voyage home.
Feeling drowsy himself and needing a nap, Stephen called down to Vinnie to take over the helm. "Hey Vinnie, can
you spell me at the wheel for a while? It's easy, the helm is on auto pilot, and you don't have to do a thing. The radar
is on; just watch out for other boats and their lights-boats have red lights on their left side (port), green lights on
their right side (starboard) and white lights on back and on top. I just want to lie down for a few minutes."
Some time later, Stephen woke with a start. Vinnie was shouting his name from the bridge. When Stephen got up,
Vinnie explained. "You told me about red and green lights and also to look for white lights, but what's a yellow
one?"
"A yellow light means a boat is towing a barge," Stephen explained. "Why?"
"Well, one just passed us on the left," Vinnie replied.
Stephen pushed Vinnie away from the helm, switched off the auto pilot, and turned to see a tall dark black shape
with a faint red and green light on top of it-astern of them. Stephen hit the throttles and turned the rudder hard to
starboard, and yelled to Vinnie to wake their friends and get everyone to don their lifejackets.
After a few tense moments Stephen looked over his shoulder-all was clear. He took a deep breath, slacked off on
the wheel and backed off on the throttles a bit. He'd managed to get his boat out of danger, just in the nick of time.
His friends arrived back on the bridge, PFDs in hand, obviously confused about what had just happened. "We were
between a tug and the barge it was towing," Stephen explained, "and the barge almost ran us down."

Review Questions
1.

What factors should be considered when determining the safe speed of the boat? _______________________
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When is an operator required to maintain a proper lookout? ________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

What is the primary indicator that risk of collision exists between two vessels? ___________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

When must navigation lights be displayed? ______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

What actions should the give way and stand on boat each take? ______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

What are the important sound signals a boater should know and what do they mean?_______________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Answers on page 82

New York Safe Boating - 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of New York Safe Boating - 2020