Port Starboard Left Right Red Green

Originally learned that the bar only had red port left. But now I just remember red port left and red right returning.
 
red right return.

the first time someone yells "man overboard, port side!" and you throw the lifebuoy starboard, you'll learn :)
 
What if the guy calling “man overboard” was confused

I learned that even ATC gets left/right 9 o’clock/3 o’clock backwards sometimes. (fortunately not the hard way). When ATC calles traffic at 3 o’clock I also sneak a peek to my (military) left
 
I'll never forget which is which after experiencing a knockdown in a squall in a 36 foot sailboat on a starboard tack with the portholes open flooding the cabin with a couple feet of water. Learned a lesson about keeping portholes open that day...and by association, which side is port.
 
In the most respectful, culturally sensitive and politically incorrect manner, an old sailor told me..."Puerto Ricans have two left feet".

It stuck.
 
Green is on my right wingtip. Green has five letters,
So does right. Left has four letters and so does port.

The whole red right returning thing is for channel markers. Returning from sea, the red marker bouy will be on the right (starboard) side.
 
TCABM said:
Green is on my right wingtip. Green has five letters,
So does right. Left has four letters and so does port.

The whole red right returning thing is for channel markers. Returning from sea, the red marker bouy will be on the right (starboard) side.
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let's say you're at OSHKOSHB'GOSH and it's 3am and you've had a little to drink, no scratch that, a lot to drink......and there you are, peeing your name in the middle of the runway and you look up and you see a green light on the left, a white lite in the middle and a red lite on the right........you best return to your tent immediately, as someone's about to squash you.
 
eman1200 said:
let's say you're at OSHKOSHB'GOSH and it's 3am and you've had a little to drink, no scratch that, a lot to drink......and there you are, peeing your name in the middle of the runway and you look up and you see a green light on the left, a white lite in the middle and a red lite on the right........you best return to your tent immediately, as someone's about to squash you.
Click to expand...

Speaking from personal experience?
 
TCABM said:
Green is on my right wingtip. Green has five letters,
So does right. Left has four letters and so does port.

The whole red right returning thing is for channel markers. Returning from sea, the red marker bouy will be on the right (starboard) side.
Click to expand...
But "left" has four letters and "red" has three. I think mnemonics help people remember these things because of the effort put into memorizing the mnemonic.
 
When I was a kid learning about boats, I imagined a ship tied up at a dock down at the end of a street...tied up with it's port side closest to the port...and on that side the red light was lit, warning folks on land that it's the end of the road.
I know...a goofy tangle, but it's what my mind worked up and I still remember it this way
 
I originally learned it based on right-of-way rules…two airplanes approach at a 90-degree angle. The one to the right has right-of-way, he sees a green light. The one to the left has to yield, he sees a red light.
 
My method has two parts::

Port and left are both four-letter words.
Port is a shorter word than starboard, and red is a shorter word than green.
 
Just think of the Mexican/Italian flag when looking face to face
 
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Red Right Wrong

So red is not on the right, so it must be on the left.
 
Starboard has more letters in it...the right side has more stickers.
 
of course, in spanish this is all messed up....
 
As far as the colors, I just remember this alliterative phrase:

"Right red? Wrong!"

Ron Wanttaja
 
"Port" is a relatively recent term; it used to be "starboard" and "larboard".
 
Bob Noel said:
of course, in spanish this is all messed up....
Click to expand...
Spanish brings its own set of problems. Is it:
  • Derecha=straight
  • Derecho=right
Or is it vice versa? What's the mnemonic for that?
 
We entered a cardboard pirate ship floating on inertubes in a couple of 'anything that floats but is not a boat' races when I was in grad school. We prominently labeled the sides Port and Sherry, and the ends Front and Stern. The bowspirit was a playboy centerfold wrapped around a big cardboard tube, and the sides bristled with Roman candle cannons.

We won a few nice prizes with that fine craft.
 
luvflyin said:
How do you tell the difference
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Hi.
Green, less experience (copilot), Right, more letters Starboard, other side whatever is left.
Or maybe I am wrong? Every time I read eman's carp my brain flips.
 
Some of you are confusing buoys with navigation lights.

The 'red right returning' is strictly for bouys in IALA B regions which only applies to pretty much the US and Japan.

The running or navigation lights on aircraft are simply copied from navigation lights on ships which are tied to the COLREGS. The port or left sidelight is red. Reason being is for right of way in a crossing situation. If you see a vessel on your starboard bow showing a red sidelight, you give way. See a green on your port bow - you maintain course and speed.
 
"There is some Red Port Wine Left."
 
Remember port wine is green… in Australia!


confused the soup out of me until someone told me that’s the way it is!

-Skip
 
Every day, I use a fitted pair of in-ear audio monitors as earbuds. For that type of thing, they generally mold the right one in red plastic and the left in blue or some other color. You correlate Red with Right at a glance and then stick the thing in the correct ear.

I just remind myself that aviation and boating have it backwards. :rolleyes:
 
ColinD said:
Every day, I use a fitted pair of in-ear audio monitors as earbuds. For that type of thing, they generally mold the right one in red plastic and the left in blue or some other color. You correlate Red with Right at a glance and then stick the thing in the correct ear.

I just remind myself that aviation and boating have it backwards. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

No, the ear buds have it backwards. Boats and planes have had red on the left for MANY years before earbuds came out. :D

Just like many cars that you can manually shift with the shifter in push pull. Many have push to upshift, thinking push to go faster, the real convention is PULL to upshift, as this is easier when under hard acceleration. :D
 
Right. Pull to upshift is the convention in motorcycles, and in race cars with sequential gearboxes. Crazy to think that any manufacturer would get that backwards.

My point about my earbuds was: I don't care who's been doing it longer, in my day to day existence I have to utilize the "right=red" correlation vastly more often than not, so that's how I remember it. I guess I could order my next pair in right=green/left=red and reprogram the circuit in my brain.
 
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