How much do you drink on board?

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timbartlett

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I'm researching an article for YM about drink-boating.
It follows renewed calls from the MAIB for drink-boat legislation to be applied to pleasure craft.
- Do you run a "dry boat" policy all the time (even at anchor) and ban your crew from alcohol for 24 hours before they get on board?
-- Or do you crack open a can as soon as you step across the guardrails?
--- Is a glass or two with dinner OK?
----Or a "sundowner" on passage?

We want to hear your views -- but please note that if you would like your comments to appear in print, then I'll need a PM from you giving your real name. Depending on the response, I may not be able to use every comment I receive, and I may have to edit them for length, spelling or grammar.
 
As a pro fisherman for forty years I obviously have a huge capacity for drink but after one pint I can't handle the boat at all. Makes me worry that my driving might be similarly impaired although still legal.
 
A lot of thoughts on this.. in no particular order

What is the actual scale of this problem? or to put it another way how many drink related accidents happen every day?
--and of those accidents, what proportion are actually serious?
Getting it wrong as you bring her into the berth and ripping the pullpit of the next boat is one thing, basic navigation erors, running aground and drowning innocent passengers is another.
 
"Dry boat" frankly strikes me as weird, though obviously I'd follow their rule if a guest on someone's else's boat. Possibly I might not go back though :)

Don't particularly hold back if moored or securely anchored. If I had doubts about the security of an anchorage (bad weather, poor holding, lack of shelter, or lots of surrounding boats that might drag or swing onto us) I would moderate my consumption in case some midnight manoeuvring became necessary.

I don't generally drink under way, simply because I mostly day-sail and drinking is an evening thing for me. I don't think there's anything wrong with a beer with lunch while sailing though; my parents always have done and it never struck me as anything out of the ordinary.

Pete
 
drink

Alcohol......

never before six in the evening

then I sometimes crack a single beer or a glasss of wine under way or at anchor

a nightcap of cheap whisky last thing before turning in

in the winter when on a mooring on on bouy then I will drink enought to take me above the legal limit

just out of interest

will you be covering drugs....


I have also been told to take Ibroprufen or co-codamol for my increasingly painful hands

but both of those make me feel very weird

- far weirder than alcohol


and then there is cannabis - several times I have smelt it as I drift down through the moorings or in marinas

several times on the Deben and once on Backweaters

we smelt lots of it coming from canal boats on our recent trip up the Nene

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/blogs/sailing-through-the-canopy/

Dylan
 
timbartlett said:
I'm researching an article for YM about drink-boating.
Click to expand...

I hope that you will compare with whatever the law says about road vehicles that are used for accommodation and recreation and thus also possibly for imbibing. I believe that it is an offence to be "in charge" of a vehicle while drunk, even if not actually driving...

Mike.
 
I knowthe OP is about leisure sailors.
However, as a commercial skipper I don't drink alcohol when employed as a skipper.
I have seen a number of colleagues who frequently break the drink/drive limits when engaged as a commercial skipper/instructor and I would be all for more enforcement in this area.
Earlier this year the drink/drive limits were effectively halved for commercial skippers/crew. Prior to February the limits for commercial skipper/crew were the same as for car drivers but this is no longer the case. The limits were set by the Railway Workers legislation and up until February these regulations matched the Sailors Working Regulations.
However, the breatherlyzer equipment is not calibrated for these new lower limits so cannot be enforced.

Relevant text cut and pasted below:
4. Change in alcohol limits for seafarers
4.1
Following the Manila amendments, STCW Regulation VIII/1, among the requirements for fitness for duty, sets a blood alcohol limit of 0.05% and an alcohol in the breath limit of 0.25mg/l.
4.2
The current UK blood alcohol limit of 0.08% and alcohol in the breath limit of 0.35mg/l is set by Part 4 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, and is the same as that for drink-driving in the UK. Testing is currently done by the police, using the same equipment and protocols as for drink drivers.
4.3
The UK limit applies to the following groups :
Professional staff on duty:
•A professional master of a ship,
•A professional pilot of a ship, and
•A professional seaman in a ship while on duty

Professional staff off duty:
•If in the event of an emergency he would or might be required by the nature or terms of his engagement or employment to take action to protect the safety of passengers
4.4
The UK Government is considering how best to implement these new limits for professional mariners without changing the enforcement provisions or penalties associated with them. Amending the current legal alcohol limits in the UK would require changes to UK legislation and to testing equipment, which have not yet been undertaken (as at January 2012).

Getting back to the OP question:- So when the MAIB talk about implementing drinking limits to pleasure craft are they referring to roadside limits or the new STCW limits?
 
Last edited:
AIDY said:
nothing... sailing and drink don't mix !
Click to expand...

Surely even if you take the view that you shouldn't drink while actively sailing - and given the low speeds involved compared to cars I think that's probably open to debate, what about at anchor? Or on a buoy? Or moored to a pontoon? If I pop down to the marina to spend the weekend on the boat doing some jobs, with no intention of going anywhere, it surely wouldn't be unreasonable to have a beer with my evening meal? Many more people live on their boats than live in their cars, and that makes the two significantly different.

So, of course, you could legislate to make it an offence only if underway. But then what about the situation when you're on a buoy, have a drink, then the wind shifts and makes the mooring unsafe. Illegal to move round the corner to a much safer spot, unsafe to stay where you are. Between the devil and the deep blue sea?!

Cheers
Patrick
 
Last edited:
Tomahawk said:
What is the actual scale of this problem? or to put it another way how many drink related accidents happen every day?
--and of those accidents, what proportion are actually serious?
Getting it wrong as you bring her into the berth and ripping the pullpit of the next boat is one thing, basic navigation erors, running aground and drowning innocent passengers is another.
Click to expand...

There are some stats and a bit of background in this report - the "victims" were lucky not to be more seriously injured or worse but it is pretty clear that they weren't experienced (or sensible).

http://www.maib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/2012/sun_clipper_and_morfil.cfm
 
I'll occasionally have a beer or two with lunch underway if it is a really really hot day, sadly as I sail in the Irish Sea days like that are very rare (esp. this season) and steaming mugs of tea and hot chocolate are normally on the menu!
 
Talulah said:
...Getting back to the OP question:- So when the MAIB talk about implementing drinking limits to pleasure craft are they referring to roadside limits or the new STCW limits?
Click to expand...
The MAIB appear to be campaigning for Section 80 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act to be brought into force (at the moment, it is in legislative limbo: it's in the law, but it is not in force.)

So at the moment, they seem to be aiming for the 0.08% limit
 
I find the coffee tastes a lot better with the usual cap of rum in, but only have a couple when under way as the boss prefers tea.:)
 
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