Beers & Boating..

[SooLineRob]

Re: Beers & Boating..

I don't drink my beer when I'm skipper, and my first mate also refrains from alcohol while underway; just in case something goes very wrong, there's two qualified AND sober people able to dock safely...

I allow drinking by my passengers. Everyone behaves. I save my beer for later on after we're out of the water and home on the patio.

Conversely, I will drink when I'm a passenger on another boat, provided there's two sober (and qualified) people aboard.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Beers & Boating..

Don't drink on my boat period. Do I drink, You betcha. I'll down one or two while on a boat that I am not operating. But I think it is a bad idea for anyone out on the water to get ripped weather they are operating the boat or not. Too many things can happen.

The thing I hate the most about these new laws is the DUI checkpoints set up on our roads. No one will ever convince me that anyone has the right to pull me over and check me out just because I am driving down the road. Asking where I was and where I am going. Talk about taking away your basic freedom. And no I don't drink and drive.

 

[bootle]

Re: Beers & Boating..

Yo ho ho! Ya stupid drunkin parrot, stop squakin' and go find me other leg.

 

[JB]

Re: Beers & Boating..

Well, we have strong feelings one way or another. One thing we seem to agree on is that drunken behavior is dangerous. . .on the road, on the water or anywhere else. The danger to the drunk is his problem; he accepted the risk.

Where we seem to disagree is where his freedom and liberty ends and threat to the life and property of others begins.

I have the good fortune to be someone who hates to be drunk and avoids it carefully. I do not understand how being drunk can be "fun".

I have no problem with people who drink responsibly and within the law. That is what I do. My "no booze on the water" rule is simply reduction of the risks of being out there.

 

[beilwing]

Re: Beers & Boating..

I hope I didn't come off as abrasive or imply that I think getting drunk and operating a vehicle, on land or water, is appropriate. I didn't intend to do either. I know there are those that take their drinking past acceptable levels and they are a danger to everybody on the water, not just them self. I just think that there are allready laws against B.U.I., we dont need more. A zero tolerance is just going to punish those that do go out for the day and have a one or two responibly. The ones who go out and get drunk will still be out and still be drunk.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Beers & Boating..

When they came for the farters,
I remained silent (as usual),
and passed in secrecy.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: Beers & Boating..

Last week prior to the fourth, 11:30pm on a foggy nite, six peoples' lives were altered when their 26' center console doing approx. 35 knots abruptly came to rest on the rocky shoreline. All six were injured, taken to local hospital. One of the six was med-flighted to Boston, still in intensive care with multiple injurious at this writing.

All those on board were DRUNK.

In Mass. if found guilty of D U I while operating your boat you will also lose your right to operate a motor vehicle.

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Beers & Boating..

the water and sun, other factors while boating, makes your body absorb the alcohol faster than sitting at the bar. you can be legally drunk, drinking only 1/2 as much alcohol.

100% incorrect according to all the training as a state licensed breath test operator that I have had over the past 16 years. Food has a play in absorbtion. It slows the absorbtion rate down. Gender also plays a role. Women absorb alcohol quicker than men, due to having less water in their bodies. Generally, if a man and woman of the same size drink the same amount, the woman's BAC will be higher.

 

[marine4003]

Re: Beers & Boating..

Ok,Then...so its pretty much a general consensus..drinking & boatin' not good!!, And i for one, agree that any more Government intervention on fun "hobby's" is also not good,twice we have had DNR MANDATORY inspections on the local ramp...to me that's the same as DWI "checkpoints" not to mention the local Prop Cops seem to take more interest in suspected BUI, than in enforcing people to boat more responsibly.Down in Florida the local marine police presence is so apparent that all safe boating laws seem to be followed all without them even having to stop everyone and look for PFD;s (Sarasota anyway).

 

[Geo2008]

Re: Beers & Boating..

No booze on my boat, why take the risk, just being on the water is enough fun for me.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Beers & Boating..

Ok,Then...so its pretty much a general consensus..drinking & boatin' not good!!, And i for one, agree that any more Government intervention on fun "hobby's" is also not good,twice we have had DNR MANDATORY inspections on the local ramp...to me that's the same as DWI "checkpoints" not to mention the local Prop Cops seem to take more interest in suspected BUI, than in enforcing people to boat more responsibly.Down in Florida the local marine police presence is so apparent that all safe boating laws seem to be followed all without them even having to stop everyone and look for PFD;s (Sarasota anyway).

Revenue generators under the guise of keeping the public safe.

 

[QC]

Re: Beers & Boating..

We drink responsibly on my boats. I have a few and am very careful to remind those with me that I won't tolerate stupid. The law is definitely Driving or Boating while intoxicated. Not sure why we can't just leave it at that? It doesn't say that I can't have a Coors Light that seems to evaporate from my body at 110 degrees quicker than it does anywhere else. Heck I don't usually even need to **** when I'm on the boat, so it sure as heck seems to get out quicker. Yes, it could get out of control, but that's what the law is for, right? I also understand the endangerment of others thing, but I am more afraid of idiots, sober or not . . .

Also, some of you with the Zero tolerance positions, what about on a Houseboat? No alcohol whatsoever while on a boat that you are going to cook dinner on? On the beach? Cruise ship? And with that said, I don't really understand these arbitrary lines that people draw, yes, OK when traveling 5 MPH or lower within site of the marina, but never with 4 people on Sunday with more than 14 horspeower per foot, except when beached for more than 4 hours when the weather is calm . . . ??? Hence my HB or Cruise ship question. Somewhere along the possibilities curve people will make an exception.

I would also guess that a man who openly admits enjoying fine single malts might make an exception under the right circumstances . . . Like a beautiful sunset observed from the Flybridge of a beached HB. I don't really like a Scotch when it is 117 out, but I sure might enjoy a foofy somethin'-or-other . . . To each his own, but I certainly crave a cold one while watching my family enjoy a wonderfully safe day on the water.

Heck, come to think of it, when I was hanging with the US Marine folks we pretty much all had a beer or two while testing (read abusing) boats and cruising in 30+ footers at night

 

[gdombroski]

Re: Beers & Boating..

Didn't anyone find this interesting from Drifter

In Canada it it illegal to have open liquor in a boat unless you are: A/ anchored for the night B/ the boat has a head

If that means you need both A & B I get it. You can't go in the water. But, if it's either/or??

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Beers & Boating..

Thank you QC. This thread needed that.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Beers & Boating..

My opinion is that there are two types. Sober people who can drive and sober people who can't. Mix alcohol with the last one who can't drive sober, and you will have problems.

About 8 years ago I got pulled over for a expired tag. The officer had me set in his car and we talked about things until all the ww's were checked. He wrote me out a citation for the expired tag and let me continue home. (home was within 1/2 mile) Little did he know that I had just finished my 4th beer. Apparently he didn't suspect anything, or I would have gone thru the tests. Some can hold their booze and others can't. Its more the ability to follow the officers instructions than anything.

I think with all the revenue that is generated by alcohol, there needs to be a better medium such as, idle speed only if you have been drinking with a bit higher content level.

In the past I've heard things like 1 in 3 fatalities is caused by alcohol.....My question is,,,,,What about the other 2 of 3 fatalities. We need to be making better drivers vs making cars more safe. Making cars more idiot proof only increases the price of the car. It also makes it even harder to make a light car get better gas mileage because of all the safety features.

Some countries it is a criminal offense to have an accident. Why is it some people can go their whole lives without an accident or citation while others cant? Driving is a full time job where distractions will kill,,,,,,that must be the other 2 out of every 3 fatalities.

BTW, I'm always sober when I'm at the helm. I'd have it no other way.......SS

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Beers & Boating..

Its more the ability to follow the officers instructions than anything.

Sort of....A career drunk often has good motor skills and can do the physical tests well. However, many jurisdictions train officers to to te Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test. It is very accurate. It is a physical test that you have no bodily control over.

http://www.fieldsobrietytests.org/horizontalgazenystagmus.html

 

[Big Sarge]

Re: Beers & Boating..

ehh, I notice when my dad drinks his boating does get worse. I think they should ban alcohol consumption while boat is underway but if you get caught not give you a DUI and arrest you (unless you are about to pass out) but just give you a warning and a small ticket of lets say 20 dollars. Then the second time it should go up and so forth.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Beers & Boating..

I have never met anyone that drinks who is in the mood to drink have 'a beer or two" I drank for over 20years and never ever did I just have " a beer or two" who does that?

 

[Rinkerguy24]

Re: Beers & Boating..

It all comes down to responsibility, some will just chug and chug get wasted then go cruising around..I do drink while i am boating , but i sip for so long i end up throwing the rest of it away. This past weekend while we were broke down they were having a band there at the marina fri night and you would not believe how many people were completely wasted and driving their boats.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Beers & Boating..

One of the things that I find interesting about this thread is the ratio of those who say "no booze" or "controlled booze" (sober skipper, etc.), as opposed to those that think there shouldn't be any restrictions. I think that the folks in the latter category should realize that attitudes have changed over the years, and they are now outnumbered to a signifiant degree. And, along with a changed philosophy on a casual level, there is a changed philosophy in state laws about boating and drinking.

The new order of things is that if you drink and operate a boat, and get caught doing that, you will suffer the consequences - fines, possible jail time and exposure to lawsuits are all very real possibilities. Like it or not, this is the deal.

With the possibility of these very negative consequences, my question is: "just how good does that beer taste?"