How much do you drink on board?

  • Thread starter Thread starter timbartlett
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Thanks guys, but ...

Lots of interesting comments, but I can't use any of them!
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timbartlett said:
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.
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Boating is safe because the lack of legislation means people use common sense generally. More so than they do on our heavily regulated roads.

I do not run a dry boat, on the contrary drinking and eating are some of boating's great pleasures. What and when is my business.

There isn't a problem that needs fixing, and if the roads are anything to go by regulation may have the opposite effect.

but hey, why I am I telling you that?
 
Although SWMBO and me both enjoy an glass of wine or two in the evening on the boat we relate this to where we are. At anchor in good weather we would treat that the same as a mooring or in a marina and share a bottle of red over the evening but diminishing to no alcohol if bad weather or any significant possibility of having to move or tend the boat other than just letting out more chain scope say.
The odd small beer when under way and hot but only the one.
 
Very rarely drink when underway, occasionally a can of beer with lunch halfway across channel if conditions are benign.
Don't drink if using dinghy and outboard.
When secured alongside no limits.
 
prv said:
"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
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Wot he said, the bar opens when we tie up for the night.
 
Tinny on board or beer ashore often in the evenings, but only if anchored, moored or tied up. Never under way. Possibly a bottle out of Vara's bilges if offered.
 
PM sent, Tim.
I enjoy alcohol, but hate feeling at all "woozy". All I need to do is manage how much & how fast I drink. I have not yet seen anyone doing anything silly on a boat due to intoxication - except for people returning by dinghy to their boats. And it can be amazing how quickly someone can sober up when they realise that there is a problem to deal with!

Fast motorboats apart, boats generally travel very slowly & in plenty of empty space so "errors of judgement" are not so much an issue as for cars in towns or trains carrying hundreds of people.

All I want to know is "what perceived problem are they trying to fix?" and "How do they plan to police & enforce any legislation in the current economic climate of public spending cut backs?" :confused:

SteveK
 
Whilst underway I will not drink, employing exactly the same discipline which I exercise when in the car. Once at anchor, wine with meals, maybe a glass or two with lunch if I feel like it, why not?

How does the law view people with motor caravans? Yes, drink drive laws will apply whilst driving, but 'moored' up in a field, surely a trip to the boozer is the norm, isnt it?
 
galadriel said:
Whilst underway I will not drink, employing exactly the same discipline which I exercise when in the car. Once at anchor, wine with meals, maybe a glass or two with lunch if I feel like it, why not?

How does the law view people with motor caravans? Yes, drink drive laws will apply whilst driving, but 'moored' up in a field, surely a trip to the boozer is the norm, isnt it?
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people have been prosecuted in motor-caravans even when they have not had any intention of driving.

it's a law we don't need or want.
 
Ok so having a quick scan of the report we have a rib with an intoxicated helm travelling over the recommended speed limit for that stretch of water, not wearing a kill cord, approaching a restricted area of a bridge with limited visibility in unfamilar waters having not read any pilotage guide. Not sure legislation will solve that...
 
Hmm, the MAIB report on "Morfil" linked to above does make sobering(!) reading.

Interestingly it comments "There have been at least 45 fatalities resulting from accidents to pleasure vessels over the last 6 years in which alcohol has been a contributory factor". It would be interesting to see more details of these and whether there are any other common themes to the accidents, such as speed.

Perhaps there is a case for applying alcohol legislation where a boat is driven over a particular speed - I suspect most of us might agree that taking a RIB down the Thames at night at 30 knots when over the limit is not terribly sensible. On the other hand, there is clearly already legislation which is capable of penalising such behaviour - the skipper was prosecuted for "navigating in a manner liable to injure or endanger persons and other vessels" and fined. Given the difficulties with drink boating legislation on pleasure boats, due to their overlap with places of residence, might it not be better to prosecute the consequences of drink boating rather than drink boating itself? If widely enforced and supported by a publicity campaign highlighting the potential consequences I'd have thought it could be as effective, while avoiding some of the potential pitfalls.

Cheers
Patrick
 
oneday said:
Ok so having a quick scan of the report we have a rib with an intoxicated helm travelling over the recommended speed limit for that stretch of water, not wearing a kill cord, approaching a restricted area of a bridge with limited visibility in unfamilar waters having not read any pilotage guide. Not sure legislation will solve that...
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I think that's the point, people involved in such incidents are quite likely to be idiots even when stone cold sober!
 
oneday said:
Ok so having a quick scan of the report we have a rib with an intoxicated helm travelling over the recommended speed limit for that stretch of water, not wearing a kill cord, approaching a restricted area of a bridge with limited visibility in unfamilar waters having not read any pilotage guide. Not sure legislation will solve that...
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in an areas with a drink restriction already......
 
Dry skipper!

I apply the same methodology as on the road - i.e. personally no alcohol, but I wouldn't usually stop anyone aboard from drinking. That said I wouldn't hesitate to make a judgement call if I determined that anyone aboard was sufficiently intoxicated so as to be deemed a significant risk to either themselves or others and would either turn back or make for safe refuge.

All our boating is inshore/coastal however, and I would not usually need to depend on anyone aboard as 'crew'. In a sail environment or on a longer voyage I'd probably take a more hardline approach as to when consumption was permitted and how much. I wouldn't want to be a killjoy and ban drinking, but nor would I expect other crew to put their trust/life in the hands of someone worse for wear! Worst case scenario is that you need enough sober crew to handle the boat and the intoxicated 'passengers'. A few beers in harbour or at anchor after a voyage (subject to weather conditions) is I think, ok - provided there are enough duty crew to tackle unforeseen events.
 
Searush said:
"what perceived problem are they trying to fix?" and "How do they plan to police & enforce any legislation in the current economic climate of public spending cut backs?" :confused:

SteveK
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Exactly the point.

How are they proposing to use the law? Only as a retrospective hammer to apportion blame, fine people and tick boxes in some target-led control system.
 
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