Long distance Sailing. With or without alcohol?

[zeehag]

has only been in past year and half the inability to drink at all...kraken spiced rum rocks as a sippin rum.
i do not sail under influence--my boat shows folks yhat yhere is a lot can go wrong. one must be able to troubleshoot NOW as there is no dock so far away from shore.
NOW often means ofukyesterdaydammit...so waiting gor XX to wear off wont work so well.
rats.
sundowners used to be niice.
water serves me well.....but...
do NOT drink my stash.
LOVE
caribbean rums....dark not blackstrap unless something stout to accompany the strength of flavor...
and if and when i finally get yo caribbean i will make a rally in honor of my dead brother to as many rum distilleries as possible in a XX day adventure.

SO......

rodlmffao

[df1995]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Mate... the birds are where the booze is..
Is sodomy painfull..??

I am informed that sodomy is less painful with experience.

[RedHerring]

Originally Posted by GordMay

The Royal Australian Navy never issued the rum ration.
The United States Navy abolished the rum ration in 1862.
The Royal Navy rum ration (half a pint of neat rum, twice a day) was abolished in 1970.
The Royal Canadian Navy abolished the rum ration in 1972.
The Royal New Zealand Navy abolished the rum ration in 1990.

Interesting ➥ The Tradition of Rum and the Sea - Ministry of Rum

Half a pint of hard liquor is simply too much.

FWIW, Soviet/Russian submariners had wine rations on long voyages ever since the existance of submarines in that navy. 100-150ml of red dry daily. This was based on some fairly substantial research, finding that psychological and health benefits outweigh the downside. Just this year they extended the wine rations to surface crews on long voyages.

[ErBrown]

I wouldn't say we've really done any real passages yet. But for Maryland to Bahamas and Bahamas to Texas we pretty enjoyed a sundowner if the weather was nice and we could relax in the cockpit to enjoy it. No serious drinking but if anyone on the boat had a problem controlling themselves, we'd probably rethink that.

[Hardhead]

I was raised drinking cold beer on sunny boats, and also believe in keeping safety first. Try to enjoy the moment, and plan for the future.

You cannot have inebriated captain or crew without risking errors, but I do not believe in being militant for militancy's sake. My vote is good judgment and common sense in all things. Everyone has to be responsible and have forethought.

Sometimes the risk is high, and better to err on the side of caution, other times, chalk it up to risk of living.

[boatman61]

Well someone got the Royal Navy rum ration wrong Gord..
I was in it before it got abolished and the 'TOT' was definitely not half a pint.. it was a half glass of rum and water.. 2 parts water to 1 part rum.. Petty Officers and Chiefs got it half and half..
I used to trade my ration for shore leave.. married guys used to stay on board mostly and would cover my watchs.. 1 night for 7 days tot.
And.. it was once a day..

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

How do you light your stove without it? At least twice a day: coffee & dinner.

I just turn the knob, press down and "snap snap snap, phoof".
It's going.

[w32honu]

The "sauce" is an interesting topic...

Apparently alcohol causes more death and destruction then all of the hard illicit drugs combined. Yet it is the topic of good fun bantering. And it is the only drug that we have to justify NOT taking.

A good friend of ours who is a burly, hard charging commercial fisherman was helping us provision for a sail. As we loaded our stores he said wryly "Jesus H. Christ man (he is a Mainer); are you going sailing or are you going drinking." That was an eye opener coming from him.

Fast forward and I am pretty much alcohol free these days. Life is so much sweeter without the sauce. I just decided to switch to the off position. But there lies the rub. If you tell your friends that you just quit smoking my guess is that you will be greeted with a friendly slap on the back and more than a few comments of congratulations and an "atta boy, well done." But if you tell folks that you quit drinking you will most likely get an awkward pause of silence; possibly a side glance or maybe a more direct question like why on earth would you do that?

I crossed the Pacific as part of a delivery crew on a professionally run topsail schooner. And we would gather for a rum punch or two about once a week or so depending on the weather. It was great fun and harmless. So its all good....and from my reading here it looks like everyone is responsible in terms of operating their boat. I don't see any harm either way.

Who knows maybe I will flip the switch back to on one day. I just find it an interesting topic.

[mglonnro]

Over here (in Finland) alcohol is a quite sensitive issue, since alcohol related violence and deaths are so common.

In my sailing life, though, alcohol has always been a part of it. But it's not like in bars ashore, when you're drinking to get drunk. More like "a beer at noon". And then maybe one or two more before evening. Practically you're never "drunk", more like one beer and two-three hours later another.

The cultural things differ greatly between countries. In Finland we're legally allowed to be five time as drunk (at sea) as in our neighbour country Sweden.

[Mike OReilly]

Must have missed this thread the first time around.

When the boat is moving, no alcohol gets consumed. Once the boat is secure to anchor or dock, and no weather or other issues are reasonably expected to hit, then the beer and wine come out.

The longest passage we’ve done so far is only three days. But I suspect we’ll maintain this pattern. With only two of us on board, there’s not much time or point imbibing during our four hour off-watch periods.

[Lake-Effect]

Ashore, I'm a lover of craft beers, good wines and single-malt scotch.

However I've found that when sailing, I might not necessarily be impaired, but I certainly "feel" even one drink. So generally I don't drink alcohol while underway. (also it's a serious offence up here) I have not engaged much in long-distance sailing, but it would probably be my preference to either abstain, or to have the occasional drink off-duty, once every few days, max.

[FlyingScot]

Alcohol doesn't change you, it 'reveals' you.

We aren't big drinkers, and neither of us drink wine/beer. Talk about being outsiders, we are one step away from being grouped with the non drinkers mentioned above.

We have 3 main rules on the boat. Tangentially alcohol is related to all 3.

1. Do NOT fall off the boat.
2. Don't be an ***hole.
3. Don't be a dumb***.

Some would use 'dry boat' as meaning no alcohol on board. We definitely keep rum and vodka on the boat and are happy to share with people we meet.

We haven't made any multi-day passages yet, so alcohol underway hasn't been an issue.

[a64pilot]

I drink rarely. Have not been drunk in decades, in truth I get a headache and queasy stomach now and that stops further consumption.
I’m a lightweight in my old age.
My Brother however was an Alcoholic, the amount of Jack Daniels he would drink daily was staggering, it is I believe what killed him.
I always thought that a real alcoholic drank very little their liver was so damaged that it couldn’t process much alcohol so it took little intake to keep them drunk? Reason why a street alcoholic can nurse a bottle of cheap wine all day?
However I think my Brother could drink a 5th a day, and get up tomorrow and do it again.
Anyway I don’t usually drink any alcohol while underway, I’m not against it. Just I don’t want it then.

I keep a pretty well stocked bar, but she will drink a frozen dacquiri occasionally, haven’t in a couple of months though, I’ll usually drink beer, but if we want it there are bottles of Crown Royal, of course several bottles of Rum etc on board, even some wine.

I think our longest single leg was four days, by day two I’m usually so tired that the thought of a drink is sickening

[CassidyNZ]

In earlier times on voyages we used to have a sundowner and all on board looked forward to it not so much because they wanted a “fix” but more because that was a time when all on the boat got together for an hour to shoot the breeze (excuse the pun). Normally aligned with the evening meal, limited to one drink, a wine or a beer, never enough to alter behaviour.

Nowadays I find less of an urge to do that mostly because often my crew are not feeling all that festive and drinking alone is not for me.

But a quiet evening drink with new and old friends in a peaceful anchorage is surely hard to beat.

[thomm225]

You can drink and sail IF you are a responsible person and know your limits.

Looks like many here though would have been great help to the Temperance Movement and Prohibition back in the 1920's in the USA

My grandmother always said drinking beer wasn't really drinking so there's that. (and she didn't know about today's light beer)