Module 5 - COLREGs
Rule 5 — Look-out
What you will learn
Organise a continuous lookout that combines sight, hearing and every appropriate available means without allowing AIS, radar or autopilot to become a substitute for attention.
A proper lookout is an active full-picture task carried out at all times. The means and number of people used depend on the prevailing circumstances, but the required appraisal never disappears.
Rule 5 requires every vessel at all times to maintain a proper lookout by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and conditions. The purpose is a full appraisal of both the situation and risk of collision, not merely noticing a vessel once.
On a small yacht, the watch should deliberately scan the full horizon, check blind sectors around sails, sprayhood and structures, listen outside the cabin, and reassess after course, visibility or traffic changes. Radar must be used properly when fitted and operational. AIS can help identify and track some contacts, but craft may be absent, switched off or transmitting wrong data, so it remains supplementary.
Autopilot can hold a heading but cannot keep lookout or decide safe speed. At night, in restricted visibility, near traffic concentrations or when the helm cannot maintain a full appraisal, post or call an additional lookout and remove avoidable distractions. The skipper must still match the watch arrangement to the actual conditions rather than treating one crew pattern as universally sufficient.
Set the watch before the harbour entrance
A short-handed yacht approaches an unfamiliar entrance at night under autopilot, with a large genoa obscuring part of the leeward bow.
1. Expose the sectors
Move, alter the scan position or adjust sail handling so the blind bow is checked frequently and deliberately.
2. Combine the means
Use sight and hearing outside, tune the radar appropriately and compare—not replace—the picture with AIS.
3. Strengthen the watch
Call another crew member before workload or traffic prevents a continuous full appraisal.
Sense check: Being able to name the AIS targets is not enough if an unlit dinghy, buoy or sound signal could pass through an unobserved sector.
Common mistake or limitation
- AIS cannot be the lookout: not every vessel or object transmits, and transmitted identity, position or movement can be absent or wrong.
- A periodic glance from the companionway is not a continuous appraisal when speed, traffic, visibility or blind sectors demand more attention.
Recap
- Rule 5 applies at all times and aims at a full situation and collision-risk appraisal.
- Sight, hearing, radar and other aids must be combined according to the circumstances.
- Autopilot and AIS reduce neither the lookout duty nor the need for an adequate watch arrangement.
Optional quick check
Section 2 of 9
Which watch arrangement best meets Rule 5 on a busy night approach?
Continue studying COLREGs
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