One of the projects I'm completing this weekend is a review of a book about
navigation.

Like most of the US, we don't have many Cardinal buoys here 'bouts, and I have
always found the system slightly confusing. Looking at a page with four nice
color photos of cardinal buoys........Eureka! I have spotted what appears to be
a foolproof system for telling them apart. (This is undoubtedly well known to
boaters in areas where cardinal buoys are common, but just in case anybody else
who, like myself, is more familiar with the lateral system can benefit- here it
is.)

You don't have to remember the paint schemes on any of the cardinal buoys with
the two cones stacked vertically on top! If the both cones are pointing up,
that corresponds to the "up" direction on a compass rose, or North. A north
buoy is on the north side of a hazard. If both cones point down, that
corresponds to the "down" direction, or South. A south buoy is on the south
side of a hazard.

Two cones pointing together are a west buoy. The uppermost cone is pointing
down, which is what the sun does in the west. A west buoy is on the west side
of a hazard.

Two cones pointing apart are an east buoy. The uppermost cone is pointing up,
which is what the sun does in the east. An east buoy is on the east side of a
hazard.

Same thing works for the paint schemes, too. Black on top, N. Black on bottom,
S. Black rising, east. Black falling, west.

Makes it almost as easy a red,right, returning. ("But officer, I was returning
to my slip from the cocktail bar")