Drunk in Charge!!!!

[Guest]

News today that recreational and commericial boaters are to be breathalysed on the briny, broadcast on the Radio 4 news. Acording to the bulletin suss skippers and CREWS!!! can be detained in coastal and inland waters and held 'until the police arrive'.

Coming soon, compulsory boat registration, boat tax of up to 300 beer vouchers per annum, and compulsory anal searches of anyone wearing a cap with an anchor on the front.

Sue

 

[Guest]

How the hell are they going to catch us !!

Or have they got some new fangled sting ray

attachment, that makes holes in the botton.

Sorry Sue no pun intended. ??

 

[Guest]

I heard the same report. Navigation authorities will detain until police arrive to breathalyse. I would be keen to know what the enforceable punishment is....a big fine, slap on the wrist, prison or falling on your boat hook? There's no licence to take away.

Also, do they know how difficult it is to find sober crew?

M

 

[Guest]

In my experience both the 'officials' and the police are on board pissed out of their minds anyway.

 

[Guest]

Being serious for a moment, whilst I do know of cases where a drunk Skipper has caused a problem (Southend Peir cut in half once) With 25 years experience as a Coastguard I have never personally had an 'at sea' incident involving a drunk skipper.

 

[Guest]

I fell off my boat last year when pissed (onto the pontoon as we were in the marina). Does that count? At first I though I had liver failure until I remembered what had happened.

Apparently when I went to bed I dived into the hatch landed on the bed and fell asleep.

As it was fathers' day the next day my wife very kindly bought me a crate of tinnies. Just what I needed.

Pete

 

[Guest]

Just another way of ripping money from your back pocket!! There is bound to be a fine! Lets face it anyone with a boat has to have money so you are fair game these days!! I am just surprised they have not brought back window tax or I suppose they could be creative and think up a new one! how about a fender tax! or the bigger they are the more you pay!!

Barry

 

[Guest]

What are they going to do? The fact that I can let a child under my supervision steer my boat and I am capable of performing the same with a few pints much better. It's rubbish! The fact that I can leave the wheel at a calculated time for a pee in the karzie and get back in time to handle the boat shows that the rules for the road do not count for the river. Please do not count this as a condonement of crass drunken dangerous behavior

 

[Guest]

My wife, my lad and myself on the boat, just who is crew and who are passengers, I assume that we will be required to keep a log

 

[Guest]

Re: In charge?

Two jags Prescott, he's the Twat that advocated boats having headlights on the tidal Thames, he must have learned all about reflection when he was a Steward.

 

[Guest]

I dont see what the problem is. Navigating under the influence of drink or drugs was illegal under the Thames conservators by-laws and every Thames authority since,and the merchant shipping act. Nothing has changed in all that time. River officers, Lockkeepers etc have always had the power to impound vessels. The power extends from the ownership of the licence remaining with the river authority. They can remove the licence and therefore you cannot navigate. Fines etc. have always been include in the by-laws and they have the right to refuse to re-licence your boat. The police have always been the arresting authority and the breath test has been the bench mark for conviction. Nothing has changed with regard to the law.

What has changed is we now have a government desperate to make the headlines to gain a second term through spin and selective information. By rising to the bait we stand a chance of giving prats like 2 Jag's the chance to look good in front of the masses by oppressing the drunken rich boat owners. Dont give them the chance. If they can't get the publicity maybe we could get the failed cabin boy back where he belongs, on the dole.

 

[Guest]

This is typical labour politics. Anyone with a boat must be rich, and any one with a powerboat must be a yob, racing around making waves, sauntering in their gin palace, etc etc. Play to the prejudices of the vast majority of people in this country who are being totally s******ed by this government and their tax regime. Blame it all on the irresponsible businessman/yob, and then s**** them somemore.

Its almost scary really, the labour govnerment is demonising everyone in their efforts to keep the attention off of themselves and their monster grab for cash. And yet we (The electorate) seem to lap it up.

We are relativley new to boating, (3 years) but I have never seen anyone drunk on a powerboat. I have seen boaters drinking, for sure, but I have been largely thoroughly impressed with the level of responsibility show by the vast majority of people in charge of powerboats. We NEVER drink on the boat whilst underway, I never run the boat after drinking, and I always insist on a sober crew as well. (Sounds boring doesnt it?) Chris P is right, they have always had the ability to prosecute people who are drunk in charge of a boat, so whats the change?

The change is that under Labour, anyone actually enjoying their lives, and having any sort social life whatsoever is evil, and must be crushed.

Ooops, I got on my high horse their.

Cheers

 

[Guest]

The RNLI\'s view was that there wasn\'t a problem. email me for a copy of their "Official" view....nm

..

 

[Guest]

In charge?

The owner? Nope, I just go for the ride.

The helm? Either my niece (13yrs old) or 'George' both do a fine, sober job.

The decision maker? No, the missus doesn't drink, just tells us where to go and when, or not.

Must be the navigator then? This task we delegate to Tara, English Springer with good homing instinct.

Must be another one of 'two Jags' Prescott's ideas, master mariner or rather former North Sea Ferry steward.

 

[Guest]

This government couldn\'t organise a p##s up in a brewery without the proper provision of alcohol counsellors, several doctors, nurses etc etc. NM

.

 

[Guest]

Instead of moaning. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

I posted a message some time ago warning about this and other legislation, and was ridiculed. I suggested Email bombing the beurocrats and the respondants thought I was silly. Its just Blair trying to get us more into the EU, I think it may start WW3, but thats my opinon!!

 

[Guest]

Last autumn there was a p*ss artish blitzing round the marina in a 30 footer, ramming pontoons. All was tolerated with a degree of forlorn amusement till he hit another boat. The marina said they'd pop down and have a word with him, but nothing was done. The other 'case' in my humble reportoire of D.I.C cases was of a git in big cruiser weaving through moorings in the Hamble, at such a speed that the harbour master couldn't get into his dory to give chase. " Get him on the way down' was the response.

But these are the only two cases of pish-arstishts causing trouble to others in 20 years, mainly, as in the case of the pissed yottie I towed last year, drunken sailors seem only to cause problems for themselves.

I guess the RNLI might disagree, one guy I know (yottie) got into difficulties last year and was towed in by the lifeboat - the first question they asked was had he had a drink?

I dunno what the answer is - most of the harbour masters on the IOW are so laid back it's hard to get a response for a berth request sometimes........

Sue

 

[Guest]

Its going to be a bit of a problem for Clyde Ferry crews! In twenty odd years of patrolling the Clyde I have never seen a drink related accident whilst under way. I have seen the odd individual fall in at the quayside but thats about it.

Drunken boaters in harbour are a bit different and can cause some offence. The following was observed at Tarbet Loch Fyne during Scottish series weekend a few years ago - on a sheet hoist up the rigging

"Wanted by crew of yacht ***** - Nubile young lady or a sheep"

Just goes to show that everything you thought about yachters is true!

Hic!

 

[Guest]

I stepped "onto" a boat on the Norfolk Broads one night and missed it (by about 5 feet - loved that Admansons real ale they have down there)! However, obviously we were moored for the night, and you'd never get me at sea like that, even sleeping aboard. This suggestion seems just one of those daft suggestions to get someone noticed. Mind, I might agree with the comment about those with hats with anchors on them - seems eminently sensible to me.

 

[Guest]

Re: Instead of moaning. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

like what,i'm up for it but what to do . i can not take much more of this nanny state shit. and i totaly agree that it will start WW3