Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)

[sabray]

Thats right chief they ask you to step over the side and swim a straight line.
those that try it fail if you are recovered you get a blanket and vinyl covered bunk for the night no breakfast.

[sageofsalem]

When Sir Francis Chichester made his record-breaking circumnavigation, he had a "trick" mast in which he concealed his Scots Whiskey from the likes of many of the Puritan Types who have posted to this thread. He had his daily toddy and only managed to get pitchpoled once. I'm sure some of you are certain it was his own fault-because he was drinking.

Billy "Pilgrim"

[Wotname]

He also carried a keg of beer (ale??) on a few trips.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Healer52

In terms of the alcohol content, the carrier doesn't matter. A drink is a drink is a drink, or 12 oz of beer is the same as 5 oz of wine or 1 oz of 80-proof spirits.

Yeah, except that 1 oz -- 30ml -- of 80-proof spirits is not a "drink". Jeez! Why bother? A decent G&T requires 50ml to 60ml of gin in my book.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by bstreep

I've ALWAYS followed this advice:

I limit myself to 1 beer per hour. That way I'm SURE I'm under the limit. Note I said beer. Wine and grain alcohol are too hard to judge alcohol content.

I take the opposite approach. I limit myself not to a certain amount per hour, but to one hour of drinking. I drink as much as I want, usually two G&T's, then stop.

This is based on the principle that the pleasure from alcohol is mostly concentrated in the first few minutes of drinking, and that this pleasure cannot be prolonged.

All of mankind's problems with alcohol come from the vain attempt to prolong the buzz, which brings no pleasure and on the contrary just makes you feel bad. If you have your buzz and let it go, you will get the maximum pleasure and the minimum problems.

Another rule I follow is never drink even a drop and then get behind the wheel of anything. I never drink while underway, but cocktail hour at anchor with the sun going down after a long sail is how we know God exists, and that he loves us, to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin.

[ReMetau]

Just smoke pot.

[Dockhead]

LITTLE KNOWN TIDBIT OF NAVAL HISTORY...














The U. S. S.. Constitution (Old Ironsides), as a combat vessel, carried48,600 gallons of fresh waterfor her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last six months of sustained operations at sea. She carried no evaporators (i.e. fresh water distillers).




However, let it be noted that according to her ship's log, "On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,400 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum."




Her mission: "To destroy and harass English shipping."




Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and68,300 gallons of rum.




Then she headed for the Azores , arriving there 12 November.. She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.




On 18 November, she set sail for England . In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war and captured and scuttled 12 English merchant ships, salvaging only the rum aboard each.




By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted. Nevertheless, although unarmed she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland . Her landing party captured a whisky distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch aboard by dawn. Then she headed home.




The U. S. S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799, with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, no wine, no whisky, and38,600 gallons of water.





GO NAVY!

[rebel heart]

Cutting out alcohol from my diet was one of the first things I did when getting my fitness and health in order. I dropped around 10 pounds in a month and a half just from cutting out drinking, my skin looked better, and I felt better.

I have maybe a beer or two every week or two and never on the boat. It's just not worth the body-fattening and impairment more than that. Maybe some exceptions for a friend's wedding or whatever, but that's about it.

It's just not worth it to me.

[Astrid]

Considering the 'fresh' water in the barrels would have the consistency of pond water and become an eco system all its own after a few weeks at sea, I can understand why the alcoholic drinks went first.

[KillerBoo]

While on this topic:
This summer swedish legislators passed on a new law stating that the new limits for BAC when fulfilling a "chore of importance to the ships security" is drawn at 0.02 That is, virtually zero tolerance. This has made quite a few ppl upset and made them scream Big Brother Mentality everywhere. As for me, sure.. I´ll have a beer every now and then, but it´s not of that big importance to me. Furthermore, there´s a few strange exceptions to the new law: It doesn´t apply to boats shorter than 10 metres, or has a max speed below 15 kts. I can see why some ppl get upset about THIS fact. Is a 20ft daycrusier at 4 kts more dangerous than a 30 ft sailingboat at say 7 kts.? Cos this is the weird part: The guy in the DC will get pulled over for a routine check and then will be fined (first court case made it 6K SEK fine for having 0.026. Appx 900 USD) whereas the sailingboat skipper wont even be looked upon -if he doesnt act drunk, giving them a reason to stop him) even if he has 3-4 times that BAC

[capn_billl]

The nanny governments seem to be spending a lot of time and money monitoring our every move even though only a small minority result in tragedy. A good rule of thumb for life is to never do anything that will result in your complete impairment, yet most of us have had to much at a celebration at one time or onother in life. What if you take sleeping pills and the house burns down? The result will be the same. It is safer to be sober, and alert, especially aboard a vessal that has the very real possibility of encountering weather or a collision. If I'm going to be operating a boat at high speeds in a busy waterway even a drop to drink is too much. But If I'm operating a small rowboat in an isolated small lake, (with a life jacket even though the lake is under 5' deep), several drinks even in 1 hour is extremely unlikely to affect the safety of me or anyone else. (The game warden is unlikely to make an exception though). One would think the enforcement of the law would focus on the purpose of the law which is to prevent irresponsible people from using intoxication to endanger other lives. But in practice that is rarely how the law is enforced. Migrant workers driving a truck full of people are given a pass, while a person sleeping in the back seat of a car in the bar parking lot who was not in possesion of the keys was charged with DWI, ... recently). I was accosted while drinking in a tent a few hours before night fall, on a mountain in a wilderness area, 100miles from the nearest paved road, and 1/2 mile from the truck. The fact that DUI's have become as common as speeding tickets, (although much more expensive), only serves to add the risk of financial cost to ANY drinking, and does little to discourage the original problem who are often addicts and unable to measure abstract risk anyway. We are taking baby steps to another "prohibition", where people had to actively evade the police to engage in socially common behavier.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by KillerBoo

While on this topic:
This summer swedish legislators passed on a new law stating that the new limits for BAC when fulfilling a "chore of importance to the ships security" is drawn at 0.02 That is, virtually zero tolerance. This has made quite a few ppl upset and made them scream Big Brother Mentality everywhere. As for me, sure.. I´ll have a beer every now and then, but it´s not of that big importance to me. Furthermore, there´s a few strange exceptions to the new law: It doesn´t apply to boats shorter than 10 metres, or has a max speed below 15 kts. I can see why some ppl get upset about THIS fact. Is a 20ft daycrusier at 4 kts more dangerous than a 30 ft sailingboat at say 7 kts.? Cos this is the weird part: The guy in the DC will get pulled over for a routine check and then will be fined (first court case made it 6K SEK fine for having 0.026. Appx 900 USD) whereas the sailingboat skipper wont even be looked upon -if he doesnt act drunk, giving them a reason to stop him) even if he has 3-4 times that BAC

Q: How can one tell if a sailboater is drunk out on the water? Make him walk a straight line? Is the boat zig zaging? Is he stumbling about the deck? Is he going too fast?

A: Making too much noise!

[KillerBoo]

hehe, well.. that´s the interesting part. Unless he hits another boat or something like that, he´s in no real danger of getting stopped.... but the guy in the dinghy with a 10 hp outboard could be stopped anytime.

[KillerBoo]

Btw, as far as accidents/incidents, that involves alcohol, in swedish waters: A vast majority of those involves rowing boats with one or 2 persons on board, drinking beer and putting their jewellery out for display when relieveing themselves from the beer... But that category is clearly not affected by this law

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by capn_billl

... One would think the enforcement of the law would focus on the purpose of the law which is to prevent irresponsible people from using intoxication to endanger other lives. But in practice that is rarely how the law is enforced ...

Were any of your own examples of unreasonable enforcement fully accurate, they would illustrate why our laws have to be enforced as written. Seldom do enforcement officials exhibit “Solomonic” wisdom.