At the request/suggestion of NSC, the Canadian Coast Guard has installed a much larger and more visible buoy, K1, to mark Britannia Shoal. Check out the photos below.
As our former Fleet Captain indicated in this post, many NSC sailors, and probably many, many more non-NSC boaters, have fallen victim to Britannia Shoal. The shoal is ~0.5 Nm northeast of the entrance to NSC, and it extends about the same distance offshore, so it has caught many off-guard. The new 2′ spar is twice the size of the ORT* style spar which it replaced; it should be visible from ~0.5 Nm away. See the details on the charts.
Our appreciation goes out to the Coast Guard.
* As a bit of trivia, Jeremy of the CCG explained that “ORT” is short for Ottawa River Type. These buoys are the most common buoy for many recreational waterways; they were originally designed for… you guessed it… the Ottawa River. The newly installed 2 foot buoy doesn’t actually have any special name. Not sure why ORTs get all the glory…
The new 2′ spar K1, installed 2021-06-21:
