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The answers are:
1a. The left wing tip navigation light is RED
1b. The right wing tip navigation light is GREEN
2a. The left side of a ship is called the PORT side
2b. The right side of a ship is called the STARBOARD side
3. The common factor is the number of letters in each word, i.e., notice that each word in the top line below has fewer letters than the corresponding value on the bottom line.
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LEFT
RED
PORT
RIGHT GREEN STARBOARD
Well, airplane navigation lights don't have anything to do with rigging and the information is included as interesting trivia, but it might come in handy the next time you are looking up in the night sky at a commercial jet liner and you want to know which way it is heading (this works only if you can see the lights).
In rigging, we deal with the ocean shipment of heavy plant equipment quite frequently, so it shows some maritime knowledge to be able to properly name the sides of a ship when discussing a stowage plan, etc.
COMMENTS ON THE QUIZ:
It has been brought to my attention by some "old salts" that:
1. There is a red navigation light on the left or port side of a ship and a green light on the right or starboard side, similar to an airplane. When two ships "A" and "B" meet at sea in any orientation other than on a parallel course, ship "A" to the right has the right-of-way. As the ships meet, ship "B" to the left sees a red (stop) light, while ship "A" to the right sees a green (go) light.
2. When exiting port, the buoy lights on the left of the channel are red and the ones on the right are green. This is true for US waters only. The rest of the world have the red buoys on the left when returning to port.
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