Are there any laws restrictions against drink boating?

[KirraMisha]

But did it happen BECAUSE you were drunk or WHILE you were drunk? there's a huge gap between the two extremes.

Hmm how about are you pissed or taking it?

There is a difference but if you sink someones boat you will wish it were neither whatever hair you try to split or spit!

[Dominic M]

If there were stringent laws in place then who is going to police them? Are HM's finest (who are the only people with the power to enforce it I believe) going to be deployed on the cut? "Sir, you were weaving just after bridge 37."

 

I'm looking forward to the Christmas TV campaigns, "don't drink and boat." Carl, I nominate you to provide the script.

[sueb]

So you think drinking while in charge of a boat weighing tons is perfectly reasonable behaviour?

Personally I have been on the canals a couple of months and sick of seeing it already as the people doing it certainly dont give a toss about the canals.

There is a big difference between a crate of beer and spending a tenner each to hire out a day boat and spending over 30 grand on a narrow boat thats your home only to have Mr Wahey and its pissed mates laugh their backsides off when they bounce off your boat or anything else that gets in their way!

I would like to see the hire firms slammed with heavy fines for starters as crates of beer and bottles of vodka have nothing to do with boating unless its a restaurant boat sailed by a sober skipper.

Not all (many) people on the canals are reasonable. When you have had your boat longer you will get used to being hit occasionaly. It is unfortunate but it happens. Insurance is there when the boat gets damaged. We have been hit often but never had damage done. Maybe a different mooring would help.

[Phil Ambrose]

The May-Ball in Oxford we arrived in a punt.

(You fell down in the beer-tent, unashamedly drunk).

We were wrong, we were wrong, but so young and so in love.

 

- Viv Stanshall

 

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band?

[matty40s]

If there were stringent laws in place then who is going to police them? Are HM's finest (who are the only people with the power to enforce it I believe) going to be deployed on the cut? "Sir, you were weaving just after bridge 37."

 

I'm looking forward to the Christmas TV campaigns, "don't drink and boat." Carl, I nominate you to provide the script.

 

I always weave after bridge 37 as i know the location of the fridge and the scuttled 1972 harboro hull.

 

I never drink until the last lock is done, and rarely until I am moored. On my own it would be stupid, but when crewed up, there are kids to watch, newby's to train and I prefer to have full compus mentis around until I am tied up for the night.

[Keeping Up]

If you are sitting in your car late at night, as drunk as a newt, parked in a layby the laws of this land would see you breathalised and banned. No doubt in the clumsy way with which our laws are drafted and applied, the same would apply if you were moored to the towpath having a few beers while sitting in your favourite armchair after your dinner.

[matty40s]

If you are sitting in your car late at night, as drunk as a newt, parked in a layby the laws of this land would see you breathalised and banned.

You can do a lot of damage to a layby and other vehicles if you don't take your key out..............

[Guest wanted]

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band?

The one and only.

[Pete of Ebor]

There is another side to it - In most if not all of the hire agreements I've signed, it's made clear the the hirer is responsible for the safe navigation of the boat, and therefore he or she is the 'responsible person' the the law would go after. In the case of a road accident, they have to determine who was actually driving, but as I read the hire agreements, once I've signed that sheet, I'm responsible regardless of who is driving, or their state of intoxication.. or tiredness.. or any of the myriad other things that can impair ability. So what about eyesight... what about using a mobile phone at the tiller.. What about reading a map.. (eg Nicholson's...) at the tiller...

I'm not saying that drinking and boating is safe - it's not but it's nowhere near as dangerous as drinking and driving. I have never heard of anyone being killed or even injured by someone else's "drinking and boating" - by their own "drinking and boating" maybe, but not by someone else's

Edited May 9, 2012 by Pete of Ebor

[Grace and Favour]

Snippy>>

and I prefer to have full compus mentis around until I am tied up for the night.

 

Ball-gag and handcuffs?

[KirraMisha]

Not all (many) people on the canals are reasonable. When you have had your boat longer you will get used to being hit occasionaly. It is unfortunate but it happens. Insurance is there when the boat gets damaged. We have been hit often but never had damage done. Maybe a different mooring would help.

Thanks Sue

My mooring is fine its just been when I have been out.

I know its not a widespread issue but just an issue I wanted to raise thats all.

Thanks.

[gazza]

the spread of HIV in the third world is a big problem, its not a widespread problem on the cut (as far as i am aware) but just an issue i wanted to raise.

[KirraMisha]

the spread of HIV in the third world is a big problem, its not a widespread problem on the cut (as far as i am aware) but just an issue i wanted to raise.

My point about excessive drinking on boats is relevant to a canal forum as an issue for boaters.

Why have you felt the need to raise the issue of HIV in this thread ?

[gazza]

My point about excessive drinking on boats is relevant to a canal forum as an issue for boaters.

Why have you felt the need to raise the issue of HIV in this thread ?

 

because its about as relevat as the drink issue.

 

if you have no problems with your mooring, your boat has not been hit by a bunch of beered up yobs then i cant for the life of me understand why you have a bee in your bonnet.

 

your post struck me as very strange, especially the i have been on the canal for several months bit, and the 30K price mention.

perhaps people use the canal in a different manner to what you were expecting? which would indicate a lack of experience and dare i say it a touch of naivety. ranting and moaning about the dangers of drink on board a boat on the inland waterways with very little experience to speak from was perhaps a touch strong.

 

in my experience, more have ended up in the wet stuff after mooring up and having a skinfull, sometimes with tragic consequences.

 

so a wee drink or two, nothing daft mind, whilst cruisng the inland waterways of this green and pleasant land is not too much of an issue. trying to advocate the national DD limit to steering a tin tube on a ditch does seem a touch daft, especially when you consider there will be a lack of police on the streets, policing a pointless limit on a canal seems very silly doesnt it?

 

broadland do have river inspectors, the broads beat, who are police officers, can and do pull people for being drunk in charge and fine them as fit. as the broads network contains proper tidal rivers that require a little bit more skill and care to navigate than a muddy ditch, who can blame them?

 

tidal rivers, estaury and costal boating are a different matter, and the hard stuff only comes out when the boat is tied up for the day.

 

hope this sheds a little light on my totaly bemused reaction to your slightly methodist and authoritarian post.

 

cheers and have a brew on me

[Radiomariner]

This thread alarms me a bit, as much of my pleasure with the inland waterways is the canalside pubs and being able to continue cruising after pub lunch (with drink).

I am dismayed at the following item published in the May issue of the "Telegraph", the publication of the Ships Officers Union, "Nautilus"

 

MAIB calls for drink rules to cover pleasure boats.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has called for the merchant shipping 'drink-drive' regulations to be applied to people in charge of pleasure vessels.

The call comes in a report on a collision between the privately owned boat Morfil and the passenger ferry Sun Clipper on the River Thames in June last year.

Investigators found that the Morfil's coxswain was under the influence of alcohol and did not take action to avoid Sun Clipper until the last second. The report noted that over the last six years there have been at least 45 deaths in pleasure vessel accidents in which alcohol has been a contributory factor.

Proposals for an alcohol limit to cover pleasure vessels were first made following an inquiry into the Marchioness disaster in 1992.