What IALA region does the United States belong to?

• A. Region A
• B. Region C
• C. Region B
• D. Region D

Answer: (C)

IALA organizes buoyage into regions that standardize how marks indicate the safe channel. The United States follows Region B buoyage. In this system, red buoys are kept on the right side of a channel when returning to port, which is the familiar rule “red right returning.” This convention makes navigation predictable across U.S. waters and many other areas in the Americas and parts of Asia. Regions A, C, and D use different schemes for other parts of the world, so they don’t apply to how buoys are marked in the United States.