Red, right, returning

The memory rule: returning from open water, keep the red markers on your right.

Three words carry the whole lateral system: coming in from sea, red stays on your starboard hand and green on your port; heading out, it flips. The numbers back you up, counting upward as you head in.

The trap is compound routes: "returning" on the ICW is a convention, not a compass direction, which is what the little yellow triangles and squares are for. When the reds and greens seem to argue, the yellows are talking Waterway.

The markers are the road lines. Outside them the Grand Strand turns to sandbar fast, and the Waterway adds its own yellow shorthand.

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Put the words to work

Vocabulary is easier at the helm.

The free South Carolina boater safety course teaches all of this in twelve chapters with a sixty question practice exam, and when you are ready for the water itself, one form gets you rental quotes from local operators.

Take the Free Safety Course Check Pontoon Availability