Everyone who has been on a navigation course knows what cardinal marks mean. If you have not had the benefit of formal training, the following may help with the topmarks and the black and yellow paint in daylight:
- The mark, be it buoy or beacon, stands to its own side of the danger. Thus, if you pass north of a north cardinal, you are clear.
- West [baby cardinal buoy here, please] = ‘Wasp-Waisted Woman’ (all the ‘W’s)
- East [ditto] = Egg (Easter, ‘E’)
- North = ‘Points north’ (upwards to the North Pole)
- South = ‘Points South (downwards to the South Pole)
- Points of all topmarks aim towards the black (west in the middle, east at the outsides, etc.)
