Posted by Mike Field on June 22, 2013 at 16:49:07 user mikefield.
In Reply to: Re: Right / Left posted by Tom Napier on June 22, 2013 at 08:27:48:
The International Regulations for the Preventing of Collisions at Sea or 'COLREGS' date from the early 70s. They derive from an international treaty, and apply in all international waters and coastal waterways. Inland waterways can have different rules applied by the local authorities, but are generally required to adhere to the COLREGS as much as possible. I'm sure the Broads Authority would follow them closely.
I've been on riverboats on the Murray, Tonle, Mekong, Rhine, Danube, and Yangtse, and in all cases the local regulations provide for passing port-to-port where possible. The rules also provide for sound signals to show your intentions, and these are also adhered to as well -- one blast for "I'm keeping to the starboard side of the channel" (the default) and two for port.
Larger riverboats and barges also display manually- or mechanically-operated port and starboard signals to indicate to oncoming traffic which side they intend passing on. Here's the flagman on the bridgedeck of a Chinese riverboat for instance, indicating that he's about to pass starboard-to-starboard (after having already sounded two blasts on his horn). Most Rhine barges have red and green coloured boards on or just below the top deck which normally lie flat and can't be seen, but the appropriate one of which is raised at the right time to signal the skipper's intentions in the same way.