Whitsunday Islands News and Information

(a) These Rules shall apply to all vessels upon the high seas and in all waters connected therewith navigable by seagoing vessels.

(b) Nothing in these Rules shall interfere with the operation of special rules made by an appropriate authority for roadsteads, harbors, rivers, lakes, or inland waterways connected with the high seas and navigable by seagoing vessels.  Such special rules shall conform as closely as possible to these Rules.

(c) Nothing in these Rule shall interfere with the opration of any special rules made by the Government of any State with respect to additional station or signal lights, shaper or whistle signals for ships of war and vessels proceeding inder convoy, or with respect to additional station or signal lights or shapes for fishing vessels engaged in fishing as a fleet.  These additional station or signal lights, shapes or whistle signals shall, so far as possible, be such that they cannot be mistaken for any light, shape, or signal authorized elsewhere under these Rules.¹

(d) Traffic separation schemes may be adopted by the Organization for the purpose of these Rules.

(e) Whenever the Government concerned shall have determined that a vessel of special construction or purpose cannot comply fully with the provisions of any of these Rules with respect to number, position, range or arc of visibility of lights or shapes, as well as to the disposition and characteristics of sound-signaling appliances, such vessel shall comply with such other provisions in regard to number, position, range or arc of visibility of lights or shapes, as well as to the disposition and characteristics of sound-signaling appliances, as her Government shall have determined to be the closest possible compliance with these Rules in respect to that vessel.

¹Submarines may display, as a distinctive means of identification, an intermittent flashing amber (yellow) beacon with a sequence of operation of one flash per second for three (3) seconds followed by a three (3)  second off-period.  Other special rules made by the Secretary of the Navy with respect to additional station and signal lights are found in Part 706 of Title 32, Code of Federal Regulations (32 CFR 706).

We recommend you go sailing several times before investing in specific sailing gear.  Naturally, your clothing will depend on the type of sailing you intend on doing, and what time of the year it will take place.

Boats with One Mast:
Sloops: The most common type of single-masted monohull.  Sloops have either a masthead rig or a fractional rig.  If a forestay attaches at the top of the mast, the rig is a masthead rig,

and the mainsail and job are hoisted equally high.  On a fractional rig sloop, the forestay stops about three-quarters of the way up the mast, and the mainsail is taller than the jib.