⚓ ATONS, Flotillas and Rum flavored shrimp.🌊🍷
⛵ 🛟 Buoys, Beacons & Things That Go Bump Under the Boat
Ever looked across a harbor at all those red, green, yellow, black, and white floating objects and wondered:
“Which side of that thing am I supposed to be on?” 🤔
Welcome to Aids to Navigation, or ATONs, the road signs of the watery world.
They identify channels, hazards, safe water, and special areas. Occasionally they’re simply saying:
“There’s a large rock here. Please don’t hit it.” 🪨💥
Chartplotters and GPS are wonderful, but every sailor should understand what those colorful floating signs are telling us.
🔴 Red Right Returning… Except When It Isn’t
Most American sailors learn:
RED, RIGHT, RETURNING.
When returning from sea, keep red markers on your starboard, or right, side.
Brilliant!
Except it only works in part of the world. 🌎😳
There are two international buoyage systems: IALA Region A and Region B.
🇺🇸 Region B: Red Right Returning
The United States, Canada, much of the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and portions of Central and South America use Region B.
When entering from sea:
🔴 RED stays to STARBOARD
🟢 GREEN stays to PORT
Red marks generally have even numbers, green marks odd numbers.
Easy!
Until you charter a boat across the Atlantic. ✈️⛵
🇪🇺 Region A: Green Right Returning
Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and much of Asia use Region A.
Here:
🟢 GREEN stays to STARBOARD
🔴 RED stays to PORT
Exactly opposite.
So after decades chanting “Red Right Returning,” you arrive in Italy and confidently steer toward the wrong side of the channel. 🇮🇹🍷🪨
The better rule?
🧭 KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!
Check your IALA region and your chart. Technically, the system follows the conventional direction of buoyage, usually approaching from seaward or proceeding upstream.
Charts are considerably cheaper than fiberglass repairs.
⚫🟡 Cardinal Marks: Learn These!
If you sail internationally, cardinal marks are your friends.
Unlike lateral marks, they work essentially the same way in both IALA regions.
They tell you something extremely useful:
Safe water is NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, or WEST of me.
You’ll find them near rocks, reefs, shoals, wrecks, and other places you’d prefer not to park your boat.
They use black and yellow bands with two black cones, called topmarks.
⬆️ NORTH
⚫ Black above, 🟡 yellow below.
Both cones point UP.
Safe water is NORTH.
Think: North Pole. ❄️
⬇️ SOUTH
🟡 Yellow above, ⚫ black below.
Both cones point DOWN.
Safe water is SOUTH.
North up. South down. Even the G~Man can remember that. 😂
➡️ EAST
⚫ Black, 🟡 yellow, ⚫ black.
The cones point away from each other, forming an hourglass.
Safe water is EAST.
⬅️ WEST
🟡 Yellow, ⚫ black, 🟡 yellow.
The cones point toward each other, creating a waist.
Safe water is WEST.
Remember:
WEST HAS A WAIST. 😎
Ridiculous? Perhaps.
Memorable? Absolutely.
⚫🔴 Isolated Danger Marks
These basically say:
“There’s something nasty underneath me.” 💥
They’re black with red horizontal banding and usually have two black balls on top.
They identify isolated rocks, wrecks, reefs, or other obstructions. Navigable water generally surrounds the hazard.
Just don’t sail directly over it.
🔴⚪ Safe Water Marks
Red and white vertical stripes indicate navigable water around the mark.
You’ll often see them at harbor approaches, fairways, or mid-channel.
They’re the happy buoys:
“You’re good… carry on.” 😎⛵
🟡 Special Marks
Yellow marks identify special areas such as:
⚓ Anchorages
🐬 Conservation areas
🚤 Speed restrictions
🏁 Race courses
🔌 Cables and pipelines
Yellow doesn’t necessarily tell you where to go. It says:
“There’s something here you should know about.” Check the chart.
🌙 What About at Night?
At night, everything becomes the same attractive shade of black. 🌚 Many ATONs therefore have distinctive flashing lights. Cardinal marks use combinations of quick or very quick white flashes corresponding to their direction.
Learn those patterns before you need them. Because 2:00 AM in rain isn’t the ideal time to ask:
“Was that three flashes… or did I blink?” 😳
🧭 Electronics Are Brilliant… Until They’re Not GPS, chart plotters, tablets, AIS, and electronic charts are fantastic.
Use them.
But batteries die, screens overheat, connections disappear, and occasionally the operator pushes the wrong button. 😇 Good navigation combines electronics with charts, depth, visual observations and something increasingly revolutionary:
LOOK OUTSIDE THE BOAT. 👀⛵
🌊 The Gnomad Way
Navigation is more than memorizing buoys. It’s part of becoming a better sailor.
⛵ The Gnomads Are Going Back to the Amalfi Coast! 🍋🍹
Three trips. Six cabins. One unforgettable Italian sailing adventure awaits. Sip limoncello, chase sunsets, and join the Gnomad tribe
It’s official! Gnomad Sailing Adventures is heading back to Italy in May 2027, and this time we’re giving you three chances to join the tribe for an unforgettable sailing adventure along the spectacular Amalfi Coast. 🇮🇹⛵🌊
Think colorful villages tumbling down cliffs, morning cappuccinos and pastries, limoncello, hidden anchorages, ridiculous amounts of Italian food, and sundowners on the back of a catamaran as the Mediterranean does its thing. 🍋🍝🍷
🗓️ Three Trips to Choose From
May 1–11 | 10 Days | $4,200 per cabin
May 11–18 | 7 Days | $3,100 per cabin
May 19–29 | 10 Days | $4,200 per cabin
Each trip will have just six guest cabins available, so we’ll keep the flotilla small, social, and very Gnomad. Bring your partner, a friend, or someone who doesn’t mind seeing you before your first cappuccino. 😎
⚓ What Your Cabin Price Includes
Your trip price covers the boat, boat insurance, and marina permits.
But we can’t just hand you the keys and say buona fortuna! 🍹 Your trip will also include welcome drinks on our first night, two bottles of rum per boat for the all-important Gnomad sundowners, and drinks and pizza when we return to Procida for our legendary final-night Pirate Party. 🏴☠️🍕🍹
Cost is per cabin, not per person.
💰 What’s Not Included
You’ll arrange your own travel to and from Italy, hotels before or after the flotilla, food, alcohol beyond what’s listed above, excursions, and optional toys such as kayaks or paddleboards.
As always with Gnomad Sailing Adventures, shared expenses during the trip are divided equally among the members of each boat. That keeps things simple, fair, and flexible. ⚓
We’ll sail, explore, eat ridiculously well, probably consume too much limoncello, make new friends, and create a few stories that may or may not be suitable for the newsletter. 😂🍋
Six cabins per trip. Three departures. One incredible coastline.
Amalfi Coast 2027. Who’s coming sailing? ⛵🌊🍹
Send us an e-mail and we will send you a sign up sheet:
Recipe Section Gnomad Galley: Caribbean Dinner for Eight
Caribbean Rum-Lime Shrimp Night 🍤🍹
🌴🍤 Gnomad Galley: Caribbean Night for Eight 🍹⛵
There’s something about dinner aboard a boat that makes everything taste better. Maybe it’s the salt air. Maybe it’s the sunset. Maybe it’s the fact that somebody has already mixed a pitcher of Gnomad’s Sunset Painkillers. 🍹
Whatever the reason, this Caribbean-inspired dinner is designed for eight hungry Gnomads, requires no heroic galley skills, and is perfect after a day of sailing, swimming and exploring.
Tonight’s menu:
🍤 Caribbean Rum-Lime Jerk Shrimp🥥 Coconut-Lime Rice🍹 Gnomad’s Sunset Painkillers
🍤 Caribbean Rum-Lime Jerk Shrimp
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 red bell peppers, roughly chopped
- 2 yellow or orange bell peppers, roughly chopped
- 1 large red onion, sliced
- 2 tsp Caribbean jerk seasoning
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½–1 tsp cayenne pepper
- Zest and juice of 4 limes
- ¼ cup dark Caribbean rum
- 2 tbsp honey
- 4 tbsp butter
- Salt and black pepper
- ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- Lime wedges
Into the Galley
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the peppers and onion and sauté for about 4–5 minutes, leaving them with a little crunch.
Add the garlic, jerk seasoning, paprika and cayenne. Cook for about 30 seconds, just until the galley starts smelling considerably more Caribbean. 🌴
Add the shrimp and cook for approximately 2 minutes per side.
Mix together the rum, lime juice, zest and honey and pour it into the skillet. Let everything bubble together for another minute or two.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Season with salt and pepper and finish with fresh cilantro.
Don’t overcook the shrimp! There’s a surprisingly short distance between juicy Caribbean shrimp and little pink dock bumpers. 😂
🥥 Coconut-Lime Rice
Ingredients
- 4 cups jasmine rice
- 2 cans full-fat coconut milk, about 13.5 oz each
- 3 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- Zest of 2 limes
- Juice of 1–2 limes
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- ½ cup toasted shredded coconut, optional
Into the Pot
Rinse the rice until the water runs mostly clear.
Combine the rice, coconut milk, water and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil, stir once, cover and reduce the heat to low.
Cook for about 15–18 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and let it rest, covered, for another 10 minutes.
Fluff with a fork and fold in the lime zest, lime juice and cilantro. Add toasted coconut if you want another little tropical kick.
Pile the rice onto plates and spoon the shrimp, peppers and that glorious rum-lime sauce over the top.
🍹 Gnomad’s Sunset Painkiller 🌅
Some cocktails are drinks.
Some cocktails are a scheduling decision.
The Gnomad’s Sunset Painkiller takes its Caribbean inspiration and sends it wandering down the dock with passion fruit, fresh lime and an extra dark-rum float.
Makes 8
- 16 oz dark Caribbean or navy-style rum
- 32 oz pineapple juice
- 8 oz orange juice
- 8 oz cream of coconut
- 4 oz passion fruit purée or syrup
- 2 oz fresh lime juice
- 4 oz dark rum for floating
- Fresh nutmeg
- Plenty of ice
- Pineapple wedges or lime wheels
- Tajin for the rim, optional 🌶️
Combine the 16 oz of rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, cream of coconut, passion fruit and lime juice in a large pitcher. Stir or shake vigorously.
Fill eight glasses with ice and pour.
Then slowly float about ½ oz of dark rum over each drink. Finish with freshly grated nutmeg and a pineapple or lime garnish.
For extra Gnomad attitude, rub lime around half the rim and give it a light coating of Tajín.
Important: Use cream of coconut, not coconut milk. One makes a tropical cocktail. The other makes eight people stare suspiciously at the skipper. 😂
🌅 The Gnomad Sunset Rule
Get the rice going first. Prep your shrimp while it cooks and mix the Painkiller pitcher ahead of time.
Then, when the sun starts heading toward the horizon, pour the first round. 🍹
Shrimp goes into the pan, music goes on, shoes come off and dinner hits the cockpit table.
Raise your glass to good sailing, great food, old friends, new friends and wherever the next adventure takes us.
Because sometimes the best memories from a sailing trip aren’t about where you sailed.
They’re about who was sitting around the cockpit when the sun went down. 🌅⛵❤️
Some Useful Freebies
These are the tools I actually use out here, and if you sign up using my links below you’ll usually get a little bonus or discount, while also supporting Gnomad Sailing at no extra cost
- Morning: LMNT Hydration 🍊
- Route planning/Navigation: Savvy Navvy + Orca 🌬️
- Teaching: NauticEd modules 📚
- Crew online: Saily + Surfshark 🌍
- Journaling the madness: reMarkable ✍️
- Training, books, and newsletter: The Boat Galley
- Starlink
⚓ Some Youtube channels I follow and highly recommend:
