The Magenta Line
The director of NOAA's Office of Coast Survey invites interested parties to submit comments regarding whether to maintain a new or updated magenta line depicting an Intracoastal Waterway Route on Intracoastal Waterway nautical charts.
NOAA's Office of Coast Survey is asking for boaters' opinions as to whether NOAA charts should include the recommended route----referred to as the "magenta line"----for the Intracoastal Waterway.
In 1912, a series of eight nautical charts depicted a suggested route, called the "Inside Route," for navigating the waterway between New York and Texas. In 1936, these waters were resurveyed and recharted, but for the last 77 years little has been done to update the route. Therein lies the problem. The route now passes over shoals, obstructions, and shorelines, and passes on the wrong side of navigational aids, making the route potentially unsafe.
As a result, the Coast Survey is taking measures to address the problem, including removing the magenta line from new chart editions, repositioning the line where needed on current charts and publishing a Local Notice to Mariners (LNM) warning boaters to follow the aids to navigation.
The Coast Survey welcomes written comments on how mariners access and use the magenta line, and ideas on how NOAA should develop and update the route going forward. Comments will be taken until December 26, 2013.
The magenta line can be useful when 1.) the trackline information is accurate, and 2.) when there is a chart available for ready reference by the helmsman/navigator. If these two conditions are not met, the line might as well not be on the chart.
Navigation waste is hazardous waste, and a good example is the S/V Morning Dew case. From all indications, the crew of the Morning Dew intended to follow the magenta line, but missed a critical turn.
During the early morning hours of December 29, 1997, the 34-foot recreational sailing vessel Morning Dew struck the rock jetty on the north side of the shipping channel into the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The owner/operator of the vessel and his three passengers, all members of the same family, died as a result of the accident. -NTSB
See the National Transportation Safety Board (PDF) report for a full description of the case.
For more information on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) route, click here.
To participate in the Request for Comments, click here. Comments are due by midnight, December 26, 2013.
-fl