Booze on board?

[Chiara’s slave]

We feel an obligation to produce a G&T with ice and lemon, because our boat is so unlikely to have these things.

 

[johnalison]

A couple we sometimes cruised in company with always had Pimm’s on board. Their routine, whatever the conditions, was to get the Pimm’s out at noon. We did a Baltic cruise with them and watched them load up with a case of the stuff before we set off.

 

[Bouba]

I remember when we stopped on some wasteland to toilet the dog…there was an elderly English couple sleeping on deckchairs by their car…after we returned the man woke to say they were sleeping off a ´boozey lunch’….how they got to there napping destination and how they intended to leave…was the unanswered question.
People have different attitudes to drink…some think it’s ok to drive drunk in France ´because that’s what the locals do’….they probably don’t do it so much in England…more chance of getting caught. And out on the water ?….well who cares ?
The truth is…the drinker should not be the one to decide what is tolerable

 

[newtothis]

My attitude has changed over the years towards drink. On a lads weekends away sailing, it was always gobsmacking just how much drink was loaded along with a disbelief that we would get through it all; yet we did. I don't drink much now, just because I don't, no real reason. I do enjoy beer underway and a good whisk(e)y when the sun is over the yard arm, or at anchor. A nice wine with a meal on the mooring, no forgetting the après passage salutation for a safe arrival, nor the mandatory sundowner, or savouring good company and conversation imbibition as the night draws in, ending the night with a quick nip to chase away the chills and hurry on the sandman. I feel moderation is best these days.

Likewise, but I think there's nothing wrong with a quick drink to celebrate getting the anchor up, putting in a reef, shaking it out again, making a course adjustment... These momentous points in a voyage should be recognised appropriately.

 

[The Q]

I never drank before sailing at sea.
But now I'm on the Norfolk Broads, we often race to a pub have lunch then race back, next programmed down river race 29th June.
Years ago the club often decanted to the pub next door for a pint or two at lunchtime, ( the pub owns the sailing club land so no permanent bar permitted in the club). But these days it's a restaurant that serves beer, they don't really encourage lots of soggy sailers getting in the way of prizing tourists from their money.

On board my mini keel boat, no I don't carry alcohol, I'd spill it with one hand on the tiller the other on the mainsheet sailing at 45 degrees..
On the motor boat, yes I do have beer, and sometimes malt whisky. I'll have 1 pint on a hot summers day no more..

Pussers Rum, the RAF still had some locked in the safe well into the 1980s, for issue to airmen who had just finished snow clearing duties. I last had some about 1987..

 

[Bouba]

On the motor boat, yes I do have beer, and sometimes malt whisky. I'll have 1 pint on a hot summers day no more..

Pussers Rum, the RAF still had some locked in the safe well into the 1980s, for issue to airmen who had just finished snow clearing duties. I last had some about 1987..

A pint of malt whisky is way too much.....have you tried blended ?

 

[The Q]

A pint of malt whisky is way too much.....have you tried blended ?

I should have mentioned the whisky is by the small glass in the evening while having a read..

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I think should I ever venture into boat owning again I would have to modify what was my modest consumption ( see #38) Having just come back from a rather splendid lunch during which I consumed 1 Kir, two glasses of wine and 1 Amaretto, I was well gone and fell into a deep sleep on getting into the car for the drive back and then a further 3/4hr at home followed by several glasses of water and a Panadol for the subsequent headache. My alcohol tolerance is a shadow of it's former self, I now don't drink at all, not even a glass of wine or small beer if I drive and I fear it would be the same should I ever be in charge of a yacht again.

 

[Bouba]

My opinion on meeting some of our brethren forumites….is that those that don’t drink should…and those that do shouldn’t

 

[KevinV]

My opinion on meeting some of our brethren forumites….is that those that don’t drink should…and those that do shouldn’t

As a caterer (and often butler) I can confirm that this is all too true of all humanity, not just the denizens of these hallowed pages

 

[capnsensible]

I survived 2 seagoing careers of 20+ years each by never drinking at sea.

Many runs ashore were quite epic though......

 

[KevinV]

I survived 2 seagoing careers of 20+ years each by never drinking at sea.

Many runs ashore were quite epic though......

Yeah, but your boats started out sunk - that's cheating!

 

[johnalison]

I survived 2 seagoing careers of 20+ years each by never drinking at sea.

Many runs ashore were quite epic though......

But you could have managed three or four with a bit of inebriation perhaps.

 

[Bouba]

But you could have managed three or four with a bit of inebriation perhaps.

Or at least drink so much that he loses count

 

[capnsensible]

But you could have managed three or four with a bit of inebriation perhaps.

Don't think I'll live to be nearly 100.....

 

[johnalison]

Don't think I'll live to be nearly 100.....

Nothing to stop you trying. It’s only the good that die young.

 

[oilybilge]

I can't imagine not having a beer in the evening. What else are bilges for?

 

[Daydream believer]

I can't imagine not having a beer in the evening. What else are bilges for?

View attachment 194633

Reminds me of the 70s in Burnham when the Stellas used to return from the cross Channel races. The customs officer would come to each boat in his pram dinghy, with the forms. One would have to declare any duty free goods of which one would declare "NONE". Then when he had gone the yard launch would come & collect us. I gave Tucker Brown's driver a bottle of Stella Artois & he asked if I had declared it. "No" came the reply. "Where did you hide it?" ""In the space under the galley" I replied. "Yes they all do" He said laughing.
As if the customs officer had no idea of where to look if he wanted to

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I took a non sailor to a boat show, years ago. He was intrigued and thrilled by the amount, and cunningness, of bottle storage on boats. This was in the 80s, seemingly any otherwise ‘difficult’ space had some form of booze holding apparatus built in.

 

[dunedin]

I can't imagine not having a beer in the evening. What else are bilges for?

View attachment 194633

Not ideal to combine with an "oilybilge"?