Mark, Cardinal

A cardinal mark shows where the safe water lies relative to a danger, by quadrant: a North mark is passed on its north side, and so on for East, South, and West. The black-and-yellow color bands and the two black cone topmarks encode the quadrant (North = both cones up, South = both down, East = base to base, West = point to point). Lights are white and use quick or very-quick flash groups that count clockwise: three for East, six plus a long flash for South, nine for West, continuous for North. Cardinal marks are identical in IALA Region A and Region B.