Learn the Nautical Rules of the Road : The Essential Guide to the COLREGs

Collisions are expensive! Learning, understanding and remembering the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs) is essential for anyone venturing onto the water. Leisure boaters, as much as professional mariners, need to know the rules, and a firm understanding is required to pass many nautical exams. But with the COLREGs stretching to over 12,000 words, this is no small task. This is where Paul Boissier’s excellent book comes in. Paul knows the COLREGs backwards having used them extensively in his career with the Royal Navy – from the bridges of submarines and warships which he has commanded, with each giving a rather different perspective on other shipping! He also knows the other side well with his extensive cruising experience, from his early years with his father to now, sailing his own yacht. These experiences mean that he knows and understands the COLREGs from both sides and this gives him the ability to take you through the COLREGs from a mariners’ and sailors’ perspective. He brings the vital, but dry, document to life, going through it not in order, but by topics which are relevant to the mariner and sailor. Paul explains the intention of each rule and how it should be applied when at sea. He includes personal anecdotes (not all favourable to him!) which make everything real and tells us how he remembers different aspects of the Regulations through mnemonics and other devices. Finally, each chapter ends with a self-test to reinforce what has been learnt – other tests are also available online on the Fernhurst Books’ website. This new edition has been updated with the 2016 changes to the CLOREGS. Whether you want to increase your confidence, pass an exam, require an on-board reference, or wish to improve your understanding of the nautical rules of the road, this is the ideal book for you.

Table of Contents

Foreword

1 Introduction

2 Context of the rules: Rules 1-7

3 How to recognise other vessels by their lights and shapes: Rules 20-31 and 36

4 Sound signals: Rules 32-35

5 The manoeuvring rules: Rules 8, 11-19

6 Narrow channels and fairways, and separation schemes: Rules 9-10

7 Some examples of collision avoidance

8 Particular issues for yachts and small boats

9 Buoyage

10 Distress signals: Annex IV

11 International marine VHF channels as used in the UK.

Paul Boissier was formerly a senior Admiral in the Royal Navy and has spent much of his professional life at sea in a wide variety of vessels, commanding two submarines and a warship. He is also a very experienced yachtsman and has cruised extensively. These perspectives, from the cockpit of a yacht and the bridge of a large ship, make him the ideal author for a COLREGs guide that will be equally useful to leisure boat users and professional mariners. Paul is currently the Chief Executive of the RNLI, the charity that saves life at sea, and operates over 340 lifeboats around the UK and the Republic of Ireland.