Quiet Waters

Arrived in Lerwick this morning at 06:00. Just in time, because the weather became very rough en route. Now a strong to gale force WNW-ly wind is blowing, but we got a fine sheltered quay at the Greenhead Base. The Shetlands on portside and a lot of rocks on our starboard side as you can see on this picture. Also on this picture you can see the Lerwick fishing vessel 'Quiet Waters', a very appropriate name for today by the way. Apparently, this fisherman found a navigation buoy outside and towed it into port. It is a IALA-A 'Special Mark' buoy.

In 1977, the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) was formed to unify the World's buoyage system. A pity that everybody on the whole world cooperated, except for the America's and Japan. So now we have two systems: IALA-A and IALA-B. Thirty years later, we still have two systems, I really don't know why. Maybe it is the same stubbornness (antithesis of intelligence) as left and right hand driving in cars.