Sailing with an Alcoholic

[Peppermint]

So there you are with a crew made up of people you know and a nice boat for a whole week.

Increasingly, one guy keeps vanishing for short periods and through the week his behaviour gets a bit weird. He drops off to sleep all the time, is boisterous when awake, hygene standards slip until by the Thursday he can't take part any further, he'd reached the stage were untying a fender was beyond him. Stangely not to unsteady on his feet though.

In retrospect I guess I was a bit slow on the uptake as I didn't put the whole thing together until it was obvious but sailing is a bit of a drinking culture, well it is were I do it, and it's quite tough to spot.

Your into a can of worms re driving home too.


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[kindredspirit]

I sailed with one of those too once and the amazing thing was, I never actually saw him drinking. I was suspicious though. And by the third day he was virtually unconscious.

Never again. Even though I like a drink.





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[benjenbav]

I once worked with a guy who had a real problem in this area. One of the saddest aspects was the sheer effort that went into hiding it. After a while we noticed that there was a pattern to his slipping out of the office and one day one or two of us (being young and insensitive at the time) tried a sample from the large bottle of "orange juice" which he kept very visibly on his desk at all times. To say that the stuff was laced would not do it justice. However, this put us in a bit of a dilemma. Clearly we did not want to "grass him up" but equally, it was a problem as he became more and more unreliable as each day wore on. Some sort of solution was arrived at when the boss of bosses, who had independently realised that there was an issue, made a point of being in the favoured watering hole at 3 o' clock one day just in time to greet our drinker on an afternoon foray and told him "I don't pay you to drink on the company's time."

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[steve_cronin]

How times have changed.

On the pretext of lightening up the load of our overworked GPs, "Self Certification of Illness" is now available to shirkers & skivers so your ex-workmate could now tell his boss that he was too ill to work but would be back in a couple of days when his "illness" had gone away.

Steve Cronin



<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[copterdoctor]

Re: How times have changed.

Alcoholism is a life threatening disease recognised the world over. Sailing with an alcoholic is just one of those things,it all adds to the adventure! The chances are you work with one, drink with one and socialise with one.


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[MarkV]

My first experiance of being a skipper was on a charter boat, the idea was that there were two of us who would be the nominated skipper for the day (over a long weekend), the other would be there to check figures and provide a second opinion. Well my co-skipper retired "sea-sick" and wasn't seen on deck again. The result was that we had a short crew and the total sailing knowlege/experiance of the crew as a whole plumeted. Not a good experiance for anyone.

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[powerskipper]

Are you sure it was alcohol and not drugs, some have similar effects.

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Julie

 

[steve_cronin]

Re: How times have changed.

I wouldn't want to do ALL those things with my accountant!

I once knew an alcoholic (amateur dagnosis of course) who was employed to skipper a boat on one of those weekend "Character & team building" weekend cruises. You always knew when he arrived in a vacant Port Hamble berth. GRP against aluminium has a cracked bell-like tone! He would always scramble ashore yelling at the crew to secure the boat as he was off to the bar. They seemed to love the maverick attitude he exhuded. I'm not sure he still works for the company!

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[kilkerr1]

<...it's quite tough to spot.>

...unless you've been working in the substance misuse field for 7 years like I have. Can spot 'em a mile off, however well they think they're hiding it. HWMO is an NHS Substance Misuse psychiatric nurse (be afraid, be very afraid...), and it's amazing how many people one sees out and about in town who have also recetly been seen at the clinic, either for a drug problem or an alcohol problem or both. It's pretty sad stuff.

Best to be up front and mention it. The more instances such people have of being confronted about their behaviour the better a chance they have of admitting to a problem and seeking help. I for one wouldn't want to be anwhere near a boat crewed by a pissed alcoholic or a car being driven by one. For their sake, and for the sake of others the matter should be brought up, gently but firmly. Chances are they'd deny it, get upset, insulted etc., but it needs to be addressed. Difficult I realise, but there's no easy answers...


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[Peppermint]

Re: We discussed confrontation but...

the guy has a stack of issues that need considering and none of us felt particularly like opening a. a can of worms and b. a floating branch of the AA.

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[jollyjacktar]

\"What Do We Do With the Drunken Sailor\"

"What Do We Do With the Drunken Sailor", the old sea shanty recognizes the problem and makes many suggestions. The biggest problem is that until an alcoholic rcognizes his/her own problem there is lilttle chance of a "cure" being effected.

Toleration of the alcoholic and his/her problem is in fact condoning the situation and reinforcing the problem. The only solution is not to be tolerable and to increase the personal awareness of the alcoholic that a problem exists and a cure is needed. Get rid of the crew member at the earliest opportunity. Explain that safety and confidence are imperitive and that his/her condidition is antisocial and unacceptable and that he/she should get a cure. Tough love is the only approach.

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[kilkerr1]

Re: We discussed confrontation but...

I'm sure, and fair enough if it was just a one-off. I meant that if you see him a lot, or he's your mate, and you plan on carrying on sailing with him opening that ol' can is the best thing you could do for him.


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[LittleShip]

Learn from your experience and put the bu##er ashore before he causes an accident. Remember who is responsible whilst on board and it wont be the drunkard??

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I wish I'd been born rich instead of good looking ?

 

[jimi]

Re: \"What Do We Do With the Drunken Sailor\"

Agree with many of the sentiments expressed and we never drink and sail. However there is a big differece between a drunk and an alcoholic, many drunks just like getting pissed once in a while and when not drunk they're OK /.. an alcoholic has a dependency on drink and rarely is without alchohol in the system .. that's my understanding and would like to be corrected if wrong .. BTW I could'nt be an alkie .. 4 pints and I've got a 48hr hangover!!!!

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[kds]

Re: \"What Do We Do With the Drunken Sailor\"

Aaah.. but there you have it ! The secret is to have a quick one before breakfast next morning .. . .and lunch. . . and . . it puts off the hangover for ever !
Cheers.
Ken

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[Peppermint]

Re: True

I can't see him getting invited again.

Hiding your booze is like hording your tot. It's serious.

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[Birdseye]

Re: True

Hic !

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.

 

[AndCur]

Hi

Had a crew like this once but thankfully it was only for a weekend trip. Or I think
he might have ended up as fish food!! The story goes like this we were leaving at
10am drunken crew is first down and full of life and all seems great we depart and half way across out comes the drink but as skipper I don't allow any drinking on board while at sea on safety grounds so the drink goes away as quick as it comes
out. We arrived around 4pm tided up we all sat in the cockpit in the sun and enjoyed a cold beer along with the other boat that was along for the trip. We then
went for a walk around the town and found a nice pub and had a meal and then went back to the boat around 8pm to check the tides and pick up the latest weather forecast. About 9 we all headed back into town and things went down hill
very quickly as our drunken crew who had stayed in the pub was already in a right state. The rest of us headed back to the boats around 11.30 but or wayward crew
had gone on a pub crawl on this own. Around 3am we were woken by him falling
as he climbed over the rafted out boats as he headed back to the boat. The next morning we were all up early except for you know who as he was fast asleep. So
we left him a note and went for a walk around the coast. We arrived back around 11 and were to leave at 12 but he was not around. he finally arrived at 1.30 after
have had a liquid lunch. The lesson I learned is never go away with someone you don't know that well. Lets just say he has never sailed with me again.




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