Boating under the influence

I would get a bigger boat whether I needed more berths or not

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Re: Boating under the influence - IMHO

A subject that has those a) definite tee-totalers and anti ... b) middle ground who accept limits on imbibing and are reasonable .... c) others who have for years partaken of copious amounts of booze and survived ....

I sort of sit inbetween b) and c) ... I admit it ...

I think the subject is blown up all out of proportion to the actual problem. Comparing it to Road traffic is ludicrous IMHO. The two are nowhere near same. The potential to kill, injure and maim others totally unconnected with the auto etc. is very great in road situation. On water the potential is vastly less - even if you ran amok in a marina drunk as a skunk - the number of people affected would be small ... blimey - look around the marinas - most boats are empty of people etc. So it would be damage to other boats as major result.

OK - there are times when transiting dinghy racing .... if you are stupid and not getting out of way - 99% of the time the dinghy curses and can turn away quick.

I do not condone excessive drinking on boats - but am guilty of it on occasion.

But I think a sense of reality needs to be taken here ... as some posts are just daft !!! IMHO ! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

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Re: Boating under the influence - IMHO

I'm somewhere between (b) and (c) as well. I never drink at all whilst sailing, but once the anchor goes down it all changes, and I can't imagine staying teetotal when leaving the boat for the day & evening to sample the local food and drink.

Yes, that means being pretty sloshed in the dinghy on the way back, but otherwise you'd find yourself being sober for virtually an entire cruise. I don't think laws based on marina-hoppers can work for others, and like other posters, I haven't yet seen any evidence that the problem is big enough to legislate against.
 
Re: Boating under the influence - IMHO

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The potential to kill, injure and maim others totally unconnected with the auto etc. is very great in road situation.

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Completely agree. Not many pedestrians on the water /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I'm like you between B) and c). It depends a lot on what boat I'm on. My boat only does about 5 knots through the water and on a sunny day what's wrong in having a cold beer. But if I'm driving a RIB then that's a completely different proposition as my reactions have to be much faster so I won't drink (fairly difficult at 35 knots anyway).
 
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When you operate a sailboat you are dealing with lines carrying many tonnes of force, over heavy winches, and chain over gypsies. Fingers and hands can and do get trapped even with sober crew. Unlike a car, you usually cannot just stop a boat and wait to see what to do next;

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As soon as you can produce the figures supporting the thousands of people who are being killed - or getting fingers trapped - as a result of having half a bottle of wine on board a boat, then I will support any legislation to ban drinking afloat.

I am sure the number in the UK is less than the fingers and toes I have left on all my hands and feet.

Alcohol restrictions for leisure boaters are out of any proportion to the number of people harmed.

When it gets to the stage that the RNLI are picking bodies out of the water on a regular basis, caused by alcohol, then it would be neccessary to apply some legislation.

I am very sceptical of the need to create a "water police" to catch drinkers, when the authorities cannot even catch burglars and people driving without insurance.

I would be most interested on how the Human Rights Act - I am gobbing to clear my throat of those abominable words - would fit with taking car driving licence away for having one beer too many in a quiet anchorage.

Not only that, but I would love to know what they would deal with Andrew Fanner. It's the Tower for you, me laddie. Two crimes. Drunk in charge of boat and not having the forsight to take your driving test, so's they can take your driving licence away from you.
 
Not that I want any restriction on boating.... but as there is no real "water police" or central method of reporting incidents how can we reliably evaluate how many "accidents" are due to drink? Coast Guard and RNLI only get involved when someone gets "in the [--word removed--]" so many of the more minor incidents are not tallied centrally ...
 
I think you are all missing the point of the originator of this thread. I have no problems with laws relating to driving a boat under the influence, I do not believe rowing a tender is driving a boat and should the skipper be rolling about down the slipway he should be locked in a cell under D&D and kicked out in the morning for his own safety. Not 'done' for drunk in charge!

My gripe as I believe the originators in this case was that he will lose his road driving licence as punishment for being drunk in charge of a boat, even a dinghy.

Unrelated crimes in my opinion. This would be like losing your driving licence if the neighbours were called to your house party in the early hours because of noise complaints.

Have two pints and take the tender back to your boat on Saturday night, lose your driving licence, job, house, family in the next few weeks. This is getting ridiculous.

EDIT>> It is also grossly unfair to balance such a punishment, not all boat owners own cars, so a car free boat owner is laughing, he has nothing to lose. I am getting wound up just thinking about this ridiculous law.
 
If the incidents are minor and nobody is worried enough to report them then I'd suggest that any form of legislation or crackdown is over the top and unnecessary.
 
Malcb .... you know my system !!

Having sailed on same boat together - you know my opinion on this ....

And I have to say - that I think the subject is bandied about unnecessarily ... OK - yes blind stinking drunk is not acceptable ... but 1/2 pint and then your over the limit - now thats absurd.

Cheers Malcb ...
 
Because if you look at our Governments laws over the last decade they are just copies of anything they deem 'good' from other countries around the globe, the recent law brought up on the forum about leaving your house empty for 6 months originated from Belgium I am led to believe.

I think we should watch this and if it does come to fruition in the UK we can protest before it is made statute (is that the right terminology). I think the originator has given us a good heads up warning for what we should expect our Tone to try next.

Like I said, I have no problems in principle with alcohol limits on boats, it is scary enough navigating my tender around 40ft + boats on a busy sunny weekend, to think some skippers might be ratted doesn't bear thinking about to be quite honest.
 
Dogwatch is right ... to steer us back ...

The opriginal post was about linking Car licence to boat drinking ...

Absurd idea and totally wrong.

Now link Jetskis and car Licence ---- Yeh Id' support that !!

OK jokes apart - this is a serious biz and if it ever happened - I for one would be extremely worried ... as above I have admitted I like a beer ... quite a few actually ... But I restrict my intake to where, what I'm doing - so as to minimise risk to myself and others. A few beers on my boat is a lot different to a few beers in a car ....

Malcb has highlighted a difference by saying about a RIB vs a cruising sailboat ... they have different criteria and in that should be respected as different. So legislation - how can it attune to this - it cannot. Bit like legislating about driving a Ferrari vs a Fiat 500 .....

Blimey - surely there are better things for legislation than hitting us boaters ???? It's the last bastion of "freedom" we have for gods sake .... next they will be saying that we MUST have licences to drive a boat - so that they have somnething they can take away if we are naughty boys and girls .... (I did think about being PC there and putting "naughty people" ...but s*d it - I'm a feller !!)
 
never say never ....
didn't someone once say that we'd never need more than 128k of ram in a computer ... Doh !!
DW - I'm not missing the point of the original post .. just skirting around MC's claim that there are very few incidents that are drink related .. if they are not reported (for whatever reason) it doesn't mean it didn't happen...

Taking the thought to the logical conclusion. ... if your caught during a burglary ... then you loose your house ... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif that'll make them think!
 
when the government suggest it, I'll worry about it. In the meantime, have plenty of real issues to worry about, without fantasising about possible future worries.
 
Re: Dogwatch is right ... to steer us back ...

I think in all honesty I would have to sell my boat if they brought out this kind of legislation. I'm in betwen b) and c) on the Sbc scale too. Although I have never really been drunk while in charge of a (moving) boat of any speed/size, I have many times been well over any limit that would be introduced, and let's not even get started on the tender or when at anchor. For me the 'apres-sail' is half the fun, if they took that away there would be no point in me owning my current boat.

I'd probably get a large sailing dinghy and a caravan, or a tent, or sleep in the car or something. Maybe just get a 50 knot rib and tear around in it all day while sober, that would be far safer than me sailing along at 5 knots after a pint and a half, wouldn't it?
 
Who said anything about worrying?!

Most boaters would be too drunk to notice anyway! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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They'd never get legislation to remove driving licence for boating misdemeanours through parliament

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But aren't Gnu Labour bringing new legislation that will allow them to introduce laws without recourse to parliament?

Anyway, my stance is, that as so few deaths can be attributed to alcohol and as our hobby involves living often long periods of time on our boats, that instead of punishing people who are quite harmless with two large glasses of Chianti under their belts, the best solution would be to throw the book at anyone who causes death whilst under the influence.

Basically, if a man is going to fall off a boat after three glasses of wine, he is capable of walking in front of a car, falling off a pontoon or electrocuting himself while mowing the lawn.

We don't ban drinking with other activities in the unlikelyhood of death to the drunk person and as very very few deaths are caused to other people by drunk sailors, the idea is ridiculous and heavy handed.
 
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a bit of an over reaction. They'd never get legislation to remove driving licence for boating misdemeanours through parliament

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Ahem...they already have

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Driving disqualifications

Driving disqualification for any offence.

146. - (1) The court by or before which a person is convicted of an offence committed after 31st December 1997 may, instead of or in addition to dealing with him in any other way, order him to be disqualified, for such period as it thinks fit, for holding or obtaining a driving licence.

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