Navigational Lights at Night: Reading Boat Lights and Lit Buoys

Night changes everything on the water. Distances lie, landmarks disappear, and the only thing still talking to you is light. Read it right and you know where the other boat is and where it is heading. Read it wrong and you close in without realising it.

This guide is about navigational lights at night: the lights your boat is required to show, the lights on boats coming at you, and lit buoys. It is about seeing and being seen, not about the buoyage system itself.

Lights your boat must show

The international collision regulations apply from sunset to sunrise and in restricted visibility. The basic set is simple:

• A green light on the starboard (right) side and a red light on the port (left) side, the sidelights.
• A white light forward, on the bow or mast, showing you are under way.
• A white all-round anchor light when you are anchored and not moving.

Red and green are not decoration, they are language. Any boat that sees one colour knows which side of you it is looking at.

Reading the other boat's direction

This is the skill that matters most at night:

• Red and green together: the vessel is coming roughly head-on, slow down and turn to starboard.
• Red only: you are looking at its port side, crossing your bow.
• Green only: you are looking at its starboard side from a different angle.
• White only, pulling away: the boat is moving off and you are seeing its stern light.

One warning matters here: lights give you direction and colour, never distance. Night judgement fools people, especially with a single point of light against black water.

Steady light or flashing light?

A fixed light burns without a break. A flashing light appears and disappears in a regular rhythm, usually with a clear dark gap between flashes. Channel buoys and shallow edges use repeated patterns so you can tell one mark from another well ahead of time.

Under the IALA system used in our region, a lateral mark carries a colour and a rhythm: red on the left side when entering, green on the right. The light on the buoy is usually the same colour as its body, which helps you match the shape with the light.

Lit buoys at night

A lit buoy is not a lamp, it is a mark with a colour, a light, and a pattern. Lateral channel marks show red or green. Isolated danger marks show a double white flash. Safe water marks carry a white light in a regular rhythm. Special marks show a yellow light. Read the colour and the rhythm together, never the colour alone.

Common night mistakes

• A bright white light in the wheelhouse ruins your night vision and hides distant buoys.
• Pointing a searchlight at another boat, which blinds that crew and kills their vision.
• Passing too close because lights make the gap feel wider than it really is.
• Trusting shore lights as a reference, because a lit background can swallow a buoy in front of it.
• Forgetting the anchor light when you stop.

Before any night trip, check sea state and tide first, since the B7R app provides tide tables for Shuaiba and Shuaikh ports plus current sea conditions, enough to plan your timing and your route.

Night rewards the prepared. Clear lights, good night vision, and correct reading of oncoming lights do more than any gadget. Stay seen, stay heard, and act early instead of late.

Fit proper, clearly visible lights and download the B7R app free on Google Play here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.q8dm.b7r and head out with confidence.