OK so I've searched the COLREGS and my Chapman Guide to Piloting and I cannot find a definitive answer to a question I have. Are you required to stay between channel markers when traveling along the ICWW or any waterway for that matter? I know that aids to navigation are placed to assist boaters with navigation but are you required to stay within them or can you go around them if you are familiar with the depth of the water?
The reason I ask is that several times over the summer I have come upon a crowded portion of the ICWW where there was a Sheriff patrol boat going very slowly (seemingly causing everyone else to run slowly) causing a traffic jam in a narrow part of the channel. I was hesitant to run around this log jam b/c of the Sheriff boat and the fact that I'd be going outside of the channel markers. I'm not trying to be a speed demon, but the Sheriff boats cruise along at like 6mph, I'm just trying to make a reasonable speed to some fishing grounds. Is it unlawful or just bad form to go around these guys, outside the channel markers?
The reason I ask is that several times over the summer I have come upon a crowded portion of the ICWW where there was a Sheriff patrol boat going very slowly (seemingly causing everyone else to run slowly) causing a traffic jam in a narrow part of the channel. I was hesitant to run around this log jam b/c of the Sheriff boat and the fact that I'd be going outside of the channel markers. I'm not trying to be a speed demon, but the Sheriff boats cruise along at like 6mph, I'm just trying to make a reasonable speed to some fishing grounds. Is it unlawful or just bad form to go around these guys, outside the channel markers?