A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ...

ed (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents.

Types

Navigational buoys

* Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of

yacht racing Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys o ...

and power boat racing. They delimit the course and must be passed to a specified side. They are also used in underwater orienteering competitions. * Emergency wreck buoys provide a clear and unambiguous means of temporarily marking new wrecks, typically for the first 24–72 hours. They are coloured in an equal number of blue and yellow vertical stripes and fitted with an alternating blue and yellow flashing light. They were implemented following collisions in the Dover Strait in 2002 when vessels struck the new wreck of the . * Ice marking buoys mark holes in frozen lakes and rivers so snowmobiles do not drive over the holes. * Large Navigational Buoys (LNB, or Lanby buoys) are automatic buoys over 10 m high equipped with a powerful light monitored electronically as a replacement for a lightvessel. They may be marked on charts as a "Superbuoy." * Lateral marker buoys * Safe water mark or fairway buoys mark the entrance to a channel or nearby landfall * Sea marks aid pilotage by marking a maritime channel, hazard or administrative area to allow

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on i ...

s and

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguishe ...

s to

navigate Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

safely. Some are fitted with wave-activated bells or gongs. * Wreck buoys mark a wrecked ship to warn other ships to keep away because of unseen hazards. * Light buoys provide demarcation at night.

Marker buoys

Buoys are often used to temporarily or permanently mark the positions of underwater objects: * Lobster trap buoys are brightly colored buoys making lobster trap locations so lobster fishers can find their lobster traps. Each fisher has a unique colour marking or registration number. They are allowed to haul only their own traps, and must display their buoy colour or license number on their boat so law enforcement officials know what they should be hauling. The buoys are brightly coloured with highly visible numbers so they can be seen in poor visibility conditions like

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...

, fog and sea smoke.

Diving

Several types of marker buoys may be used by divers: * Decompression buoys are deployed by submerged

SCUBA Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array Two instruments ...

divers to mark their position underwater whilst doing decompression stops * Shot buoys mark dive sites for the boat safety cover of

scuba divers This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where t ...

so they can descend to dive sites more easily in conditions of low visibility or tidal currents and more safely do decompression stops on their ascents. * Surface marker buoys are taken on dives by

to mark their positions underwater. * Dive site demarcation buoys indicate that divers are working in the marked area, to warn passing vessels to stay clear.

Rescue

* Lifebuoys are lifesaving buoys thrown to people in the water to provide

buoyancy Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus the p ...

. They usually have a connected line allowing them to be pulled in. * Self-locating datum marker buoys (SLDMB) are 70% scale Coastal Ocean Dynamics Experiment (CODE)/Davis-style oceanographic surface drifters with drogue vanes between 30 and 100 cm deep, ETOCEAN. (2008). METOCEAN SLDMB: Operating & Maintenance Manual (Version 3.0 ed.) Retrieved from http://www.metocean.com. designed for deployment from U.S. Coast Guard vessels or airframes for search and rescue. They have very little surface area above water to minimize leeway">the effects The EFFECTS (stylized as the EFFECTS) are a Washington, D.C. based math rock band consisting of Devin Ocampo, Matthew Dowling, and David Rich. They have released four digital EPs and a full-length album, ''Eyes to the Light'', on Dischord Records ...

Types

Navigational buoys

Marker buoys

Diving

Rescue

Research

Mooring

Military

Specific forms

Other

Other uses

Gallery

See also

References

External links