NOAA recently announced that all nine United States Coast Pilot® volumes now contain the U.S. Coast Guard International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea (72 COLREGS) and the Inland Navigation Rules — commonly known as the “Rules of the Road.” The navigation rules are similar to rules on the highway as they present a consistent way to navigate safely and avoid collisions. Having the newly published Coast Pilot now fulfills the legal requirement for mariners to maintain a copy of these regulations on board.
The newly added USCG regulations are found in Appendix B of all nine Coast Pilot volumes. Appendix B reformatting is standard across all volumes. The climatological and meteorological tables once found in Appendix B are now located within each corresponding chapter (geographic area) of each respective Coast Pilot volume. The Tips for Boating Clean and Green section is now located in chapter one of each Coast Pilot volume.
This change stemmed through a working arrangement with the USCG and NOAA by means of updating, improving, and modernizing the USCG navigation rules.
Coast Pilot is a series of sailing directions that supplement nautical charts. Each volume covers a separate geographical region, and contains navigation regulations, facility locations, weather information, and other topics critical to safe navigation.