FAQs and useful info

How to use the Almanac

How to use the Almanac

Readers write to us on all sorts of nautical topics and it sometimes emerges that they haven't been able to find what they want in the Almanac. This is understandable in a 1000+ page book and with an index which cannot possibly include every entry.

The introduction explains all the main improvements that feature in the current edition. It also points out that the Almanac is kept up to date even after it has been published.

Chapters 1-8 may not be read as often as the 25 geographic Areas which form Chapter 9, but they are nevertheless a mine of information on subjects from Abbreviations to Zodiacs and ColRegs to Tidal Harmonics. Some chapters are specifically intended as an aide-memoire for those whose memories aren't as sharp as they'd like!

The front of Chapter 9 explains how the bulk of the book is laid out, and describe the logical and standardised way in which every harbour is organised. An appreciation of this will help you to get vital information fast - when you most need it.
Did you know, for example, that anchoring on eel grass is not very eco-friendly and that sea dragons will not love you for it? You may know that Dover to Calais is some 22 miles, but are you aware of what the International Port Traffic Signals mean when you reach Calais?

The Index is undergoing a steady transformation - please tell us if your favourite subjects are missing.

FAQs

1. How do I become a Harbour Agent?

Our harbour agents provide the Editors with the invaluable local information which official sources do not always reach. Vacancies are advertised below and if you would like to earn a free copy of the Almanac every year, please apply to Reeds Nautical Almanac, 38 Soho Square, London W1D 3HB with a brief summary of your nautical qualifications. You do not have to live in a port to be the Agent, but should at least be a regular visitor to the port and have an easy rapport with the harbourmaster (if you are not already that person). Natural curiosity and an ability to distil out the facts and keep abreast of future plans are essential assets.

Currently there are vacancies at the following harbours:
UK: Firth of Forth, Forth and Clyde Canal, Hopeman, Burghead, Wick, Holyhead, Pwllheli.
West Denmark: Most harbours.
Germany: Nord-Ostsee Kanal, East Frisian Islands.
Netherlands: Delfzijl, Lauwersoog, Den Helder, Harlingen, Rotterdam, Stellendam, Vlissingen and Terneuzen.
Belgium: Blankenberge.
France: Gravelines, St Valéry-en-Caux, Paris, Port-en-Bessin, St Vaast, Port Blanc, Trébeurden, Primel-Trégastel, Loctudy, Benodet, Port-la-Forêt, Concarneau, Iles de Glénan, St Nazaire and Nantes, Pornic, St Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, Les Sables d’Olonne, Arcachon, Capbreton, Anglet/bayonne and St jean de Luz.
N/NW Spain: Most hbrs, except Bilbao, Santander, Gijon, La Coruña, Rias de Ares, Betanzos and Camariñas.
Portugal: The Azores.
SW Spain: Mazagon, Chipiona, Sevilla, Cadiz, Sancti Petri, Barbate, Tarifa, Algeciras, Tangier and Ceuta.

2. Where can I find out more about navigational lights in harbours and around the coast?

A. Harbour lights are shown on the chartlets. They are also listed along with coastal lights in the Lights, Buoys and Waypoints section near the front of each geographic area. This listing is derived from the Admiralty List of Lights and Admiralty charts. It is selectively tuned to the specific needs of leisure craft owners. International Port Traffic Signals can be found in Chapter 4 of Reeds Almanac.

3. Can you explain how the coloured sectors of directional lights are listed? For example, 143°-W-163°-G-183°-W-194°-G-143°.

A. This is a form of shorthand. Other methods are too verbose and space consuming. Consider a bicycle wheel laid horizontally on its side: The light itself is always at the hub of the wheel (this is important). The navigator in his boat is somewhere along the rim of the wheel. The boundary lines between coloured sectors are the spokes.

The spokes represent the bearings of the light as seen by the navigator looking towards the light. Thus in the example there is a 20° wide White sector between bearings of 143° and 163°; a Green sector between 163° and 183° (also 20° wide); another White sector between 183° and 194° (11°); and a second Green sector between 194° and 143° (309°). (This completes the 360° rim of the wheel, although some lights do not use the full 360°).

Note too that the bearings always follow a clockwise sequence. Draw this out in planform or in this example study the chartlet of Hoëdic at the bottom right of page 877 in the 2008 Almanac and you'll see what we mean. Lights are also discussed in Chapter 3.

4. How do you cover passagemaking along the coast and across the English Channel, North Sea and so on?

A. Near the front of each geographic Area in Chapter 9 there are up to 4 or 5 pages devoted to Passage Information. These describe principal coastal features, dangers, recommended routes, tidal streams and tidal gates. For example, what is the best time to leave Alderney via the Swinge en route to Guernsey? In so doing, how should I avoid Pierre au Vraic? Answers on page 800.

5. When I calculate tide times at a French secondary port, do I use French standard time, ie 1 hour before UT, at the Standard Port? Then, having emerged with the tidal time at the Secondary port, presumably I simply apply the Daylight Saving Time (DST) correction if applicable?

A. Spot-on with answering both your own questions! It is the same procedure that applies to British ports. Chapter 8 deals exclusively with Tides and section 8.1.3 covers the rather more intriguing situation where, for example, some Spanish secondary ports are referenced to the Standard Port of Lisboa. Remember that Portugal keeps the same Standard Time as the UK, ie UT. Whereas Spain is 1 hour ahead of UT (like most other countries in mainland Europe). So how do we, that is you, deal with this?

No problem, because the tidal experts at the UK Hydrographic Office (from whom we obtain our tidal predictions) have kindly done the arithmetic for you. So start with Lisboa standard time (UT); apply the time differences as listed under the Spanish port in which you are interested; the answer will be in Spanish Standard time, to which in summer you need only apply the DST correction.

6. When is a lock not a lock?

A. This is not a FAQ, but an interesting query. Many Pilot books and other nautical publications describe the means of entering certain tidal marinas and harbours as being via a lock (there are of course other means). But you have to be quite clear what is meant by a lock - because a genuine lock differs markedly from other forms of entry and entails very practical differences in the way you prepare and handle the boat.

A lock is basically a chamber of water such as you see on canals everywhere. You enter through a pair of gates at one end and secure the boat alongside. The gates astern close and the water level is adjusted up or down as the case may be. When the level has stabilised the second pair of gates ahead of you open and out you go. Sounds simple, but this is not the moment to discuss the boat preparation (fenders/warps) and handling problems which can bedevil a boat/skipper/crew whilst transiting a lock.

Another type of harbour entry is via a single gate (ie, two half-gates hinged as in a Wild West Bar). When the water level outside equals the level inside the marina/basin, the gate can be opened either automatically or manually. Boats then motor through without stopping and with no hassle over lines, currents etc. The entry gate stays open, typically for a period of HW ±1 or 2 hours, ie whilst there is still enough water inside for boats to stay afloat. This can best be distinguished from a genuine lock by calling it an 'Entry gate' and this we do in Reeds NA.

The point of this is that an entry gate is by no means a lock and should never be so described. It is in fact a doddle. Clearly it pays to know in advance which beast you are dealing with.

7. Where and what is SCHENGEN LAND?

A. Schengen land, a convenient shorthand, lies just across the English Channel. It is a land populated by all the countries which form the EU, with two notable exceptions, UK and  the Republic of Ireland - largely because these two nations are islands. (See Reeds Nautical Almanac, Chapter 2)

Schengen concentrates mainly on the free passage of people and goods across land boundaries. That is why when you drive by car from, say, France into Belgium you are no longer stopped at the derelict Customs and Immigration buildings on the border. In this respect internal borders have disappeared.

But nations may still wish to check on people and goods entering their countries across Schengen's external boundaries. This means by sea, air and the Channel Tunnel.

Some countries are more stringent than others in applying Schengen law, ie EU law. The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany are likely to be the most rigorous and may at the least require some form-filling. Forewarned is forearmed and it strengthens your hand considerably if on arrival in these countries you have already completed a crewlist with names and details of your itinerary - even though it may never be requested.

To this end you can download typical Dutch and Belgian proformae from the RYA's website www.rya.org.uk

8. What are Preferred channel buoys all about? I have never even seen one.

A. They are a rare breed, at least in UK waters. Abroad, however, they are more widely used depending on the national maritime authority’s policy towards them. They comply with approved rules for buoyage, as decided by the International Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) and are described in Chapter 3 of Reeds Almanac.

A preferred channel buoy is like a signpost on land at a Y junction in the road. The main road is the preferred channel and the side road is the alternate channel. The word alternate denotes that the alternate channel leads to the same point or destination as the preferred channel. In that respect an alternate channel differs from a minor channel which in its own right leads elsewhere.

So what do they look like? They are essentially port (PHM) or starboard (SHM) lateral buoys, ie red can buoys or green conical buoys, which conventionally mark the preferred channel — but with two important modifications:

•  The red PHM buoy, or beacon, has a green horizontal band around its ‘middle’. Its colour scheme is therefore denoted as red-green-red, RGR for short. Conversely the green SHM buoy, or beacon, has a red horizontal band and is described as green-red-green or GRG.

•  At night both the RGR and GRG marks show red and green lights respectively, as you would expect, but the lights flash (2+1), ie a group of 2 flashes, short pause, then a single flash. This unique characteristic distinguishes preferred channel buoys from any other light.

So by day if you see a SHM buoy with a red band, and you wish to take the alternate channel you must leave that buoy to port — may seem odd, but is perfectly correct!

Two examples illustrate these buoys:

On page 873 at the entrance to Lorient, SW of La Citadelle, an unlit RGR buoy close W of the 016.5° leading line indicates that the preferred channel is to starboard of it, ie straight ahead; whilst an alternate channel forks to the NW and ‘behind’ La Jument drying rocks. Subject to height of tide, this channel can be taken by small craft to avoid large vessels using the preferred channel.

Entering the Marina de Santander, (page 935), ignore the 235.6° leading line which at times is obstructed by a drying bank. Better by far to continue 1 cable SE to No. 17 GRG buoy, Fl (2+1) G 10s. Here turn starboard out of the preferred channel into the alternate channel which leads to the marina and has more water than the leading line.

9. Comparing the Eastern Almanac with a friend’s copy of the Reeds Nautical Almanac (the Big Book) I have noticed that there are differences between the contents of the two books. These are not apparent until after removing the shrink wrapping. Why is this and what can be done about it?

A. Like the Channel and Western Almanacs, we have to abridge (slightly) the contents of the Big Book so as to fit both the spiral wire binding and the lesser number of pages available for editorial use in these three regional Amanacs. It is at times a difficult balancing act and the result is not always 100% to everybody’s satisfaction.

The main differences occur in section 1 of the regional almanacs where, quite reasonably, we tailor the contents to suit the geographic region concerned. Elsewhere you may notice that one or two minor harbours have had to be omitted and very occasionally a tide table and its tidal curve have had to be omitted.

 If you plan to visit out of the way places perhaps the regional almanac may not be the answer and you would find all that you need in the Big Book.

10. What time is it?

A. The average yachtsman needs to think about time, if only to avoid running aground due to an error of an hour or two in tidal calculations — or so as not to call home at an anti-social hour from foreign waters.

The world is divided into 24 orange segments each 15° of longitude wide. Each segment represents a Time Zone, the key zone being that between 7½°E and 7½°W, ie astride the Greenwich Meridian or 0° of longitude. Within that zone Universal Time (UT) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is kept. All other zones are broadly described as being so many hours ahead of or behind UT.

So far, so easy. But it is the terminology used to define the Zones which sometimes (always at an inconvenient moment) confuses people, partly due to the minus and plus signs. Here are some helpful pointers:
• The key Greenwich-based zone is normally referred to as Zone 0 (zero), because within it zero time corrections need to be be made to UT. In other words UT is the Standard (also called Legal) Time within that zone.
• Zones to the east of Zone 0 are numbered —1, —2 and so on round to Zone —11.
• Zones to the west are +1, +2 etc round to Zone +11.
• Zone 12 (still 15° of longitude wide, between 172½°E and 172½°W) is divided by the International Date Line into minus and plus halves.
• The International Date Line is the 180° meridian modified so as to include islands of any group on the same side of the line. As a result it zigzags through the Bering Strait, around the Aleutians, thence southwards through the Pacific island groups.

Minus and plus signs are logical in the sense that — means ‘before’ and + means ‘after’, as we all know when referring to a harbour as being accessible from say HW —1 to +2. The same logic applies to the Time Zones: if you are in Latvia on your Baltic cruise you will be in Zone —2. This simply means that Standard (or Zone) time is 2 hours ahead of UT. When it is 0900 Standard Time in Latvia it is 0700 UT in Brighton, ie you have subtracted the 2 hour time difference from Latvian time in order to convert to UT; hence the minus sign. The converse process applies, of course, when in the Azores where Standard time is +1.

11. Why do I need to convert to UT?

A. So as to avoid confusion, believe it or not! UT is the aptly named Universal Time for the world. Events such as ETAs, access times, radio broadcast schedules, tide times, bridge/lock openings, sun and moon rising and setting times are best referenced to UT so as to remove any doubt as to whether 0900 means Local Time or UT or what. This matters to ships which are constantly on the move and, for example, need to cross 5 Time Zones when on passage from London to New York.
If you reside in Latvia and wish to hear the BBC World service broadcast at 0500UT, you will know to set your alarm clock for 0700 Latvian (or Local; LT) time. See Chapter 1 of Reeds Almanac

12. What about Daylight saving Time (DST)?

A. Very simple, DST is merely an artificial adjustment made by most nations during the summer months in order to make better use of the hours of daylight. It usually involves adding 1 hour to the Standard Time.
• A small box at the top lefthand corner of our tidetables draws this to your attention. For example under Vlissingen the box reminds you that the Time Zone is —0100 (same as —1, but in the four digit connotation). It then says ‘Add 1 hour during the non-shaded summer months (26 March-28 October) in order to be in Dutch summer time’ - also referred to as local time or clock time.

13. I get the message that HAT has replaced MHWS as the tidal level above which vertical clearances beneath bridges, overhead cables etc are calculated. Can you provide further details, please?

A. Click here for answer and study 8.5 on page 136

14. How can I find out more about the National Coastwatch Institution?

There can be few more quintessentially English activities than to sit and watch the sea. For centuries men and women have watched the seas from towers and lookout posts around our shores. Today a dedicated band of men and women feel so strongly about watching the sea that they have joined the National Coastwatch Institution (NCI). This was founded in 1994 when Her Majesty’s Coastguard was moving towards an electronic image of radio, radar and digital everything else. But there is still a strong case for making full use of the Mark One Eyeball — hence the need for NCI.

NCI originated in Cornwall where 13 of its 30 operational stations are, the rest range east and north as far as Sunderland. A Welsh station at Barry near Cardiff is due to open in late 2006. Most of the stations are former Coastguard lookout posts that have been renovated and suitably equipped with radios, in many cases radar, an electric kettle, and above all, people.

Trained volunteers man these stations up to 365 days a year during daylight hours. Their task is not merely watching the sea, but perhaps more importantly the small craft which sail/navigate/drive across it. Sometimes these may stray dangerously close inshore, into a tidal race or even lose their rudder. Chances are that a friendly pair of binoculars are trained upon such craft, and you may see dot dot dash (U = You are standing into danger) being flashed at you by signal lamp* if you are in such peril. But you may not know that the NCI watchkeeper has already alerted the Coastguard who in turn have called out the lifeboat — another potential fatality averted.

Is this something you would be interested in joining? If so, read page 111 of the 2008 Reeds Almanac for an overview before visiting www.nci.org.uk/

*NCI watchkeepers can receive on all Marine band VHF channels but are not yet licensed to transmit.