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Help! I can’t remember which one is port and which is starboard
Do you have trouble remembering your port from your starboard? Confused by the coloured lights that boats show at night? I can teach you a little trick which will mean you never again confuse your port and your starboard.
I want you to imagine you have been invited to have dinner on board a British war ship which is in dock. You are the guest of the ships’ officers and you will be dining in the officers mess, which on a Royal Navy ship is called the Wardroom.
As dinner, there are dishes of food to share on the table. As you were likely taught when you were a child, you help yourself to these dishes and then offer the dish to the person on your right and the dishes move around the table this way, always to the right*.
At the end of dinner, there will be a decanter of port on offer and, exceptionally, this is passed not to the right but to the left (I will explain a possible reason for this in a minute).
OK, you now have everything you need: Starboard is right and the starboard light is green. So, remember, because you are nicely brought up, you know that you pass the GREENS to the RIGHT: And you will now never forget…
