A different rulebook

Cross from the sea onto Europe’s rivers and canals and the rulebook changes: CEVNICEVNIThe European code for inland waterways — the rulebook that replaces much of the ColRegs on rivers and canals.full glossary → — the European code for inland waterways — replaces large parts of the COLREGSIRPCSThe international collision regulations — the rules of the road at sea. Also called the ColRegs.full glossary → world you know. Same physics, different law: traffic is dense, channels are narrow, current replaces tide, and commercial barges of three thousand tonnes hold most of the cards. The ICCICCThe International Certificate of Competence — the licence many European waters ask of visiting skippers.full glossary →’s inland endorsement is a test on exactly this code, and it is overwhelmingly a SIGNS test.

The mercy is that the signs come in colour-coded families, road-sign style. Red-bordered boards are PROHIBITION — with a red diagonal for “no doing X”, or solid red with a white band for the flat “no entry”. Red-bordered boards WITHOUT a diagonal are OBLIGATION — must stop, must sound, must keep a special lookout, the posted speed limit (in km/h on inland waters, not knots). Boards with dimension figures are RESTRICTION — depth, headroom, width available. Blue boards are INDICATION and permission — entry permitted, berthing permitted, anchoring permitted: the “may” family, each one the blue mirror of a red sign.

Learn the grammar before the vocabulary and the exam halves itself: border and colour tell you the sentence type; the pictogram only fills in the verb.