The .05 limit when boating

[Lovey80]

79 Driving etc. whilst under influence of liquor or drugs or
with prescribed concentration of alcohol in blood or
breath

(1) Any person who whilst under the influence of liquor or a
drug—
(a) drives a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel; or
(b) attempts to put in motion a motor vehicle, tram, train or
vessel; or
(c) is in charge of a motor vehicle, tram, train or vessel;

is guilty of an offence and liable to a penalty not exceeding
28 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
..........

For the Record strait up I dont advocate drink driving one bit.

The way i see it this part of the wording was set up so that whilst on some occasions a person may not be the driver he is in charge ie An Open licence holder supervising a learner. Obviously you cant get on the drink and get your sober 16 year old learner driver son to drive you back from the pub. Unfortunately being in charge of a motor vehicle can be interpreted(misinterpreted) by police to screw you over at their discretion. As far as im concerned if im not at the wheel of any vessel/vehicle with the motor running then the handbrake or anchor is in charge of the vehicle. Now that may be a naieve way to look at it but its the fair way to look at it. But of course theres pleanty of Coppers out there that got picked on once too often at school and have that chip on their shoulders (80% of every traffic cop ive met lol) and will do you over because he can. There has been more than 1 night ive been out for an all nighter with a mate or two, anchored/moored up in the old faithfull spot set up the rigs and got on the drink and been over the limmit but by 7 the next morning after a hard sleep in the boat i would have been right down. (That isnt a que for 10 people to tell a story about guys getting caught the morning after a drink).

Now theres pleanty of other things I could be doing with my spare time apart from some harmless fishing that could cause some real trouble for the police but i dont because I'm not that sort of person. So if i got done like that I would fight it til the end.

Ive never been done DUI or had a criminal record so I recon if your a good bloke and dont carry on like a pork chop everything goes along just fine.

For those coppers offended by my comments I applogise in advance...... except for you traffic cops he he he.

OK im ranting now if you've read this far i'm sorry but i need to get another bourbon (enter smiley face here)

Cheers Chris

[Luc]

My solution is eazy,

ZERO tolerance while in the boat. The time to enjoy a cold one is after fishing's done.

Luc

[Fish Guts]

honestly the enforcement of drink driving offences whilst anchored is a very hazey subject. Police use discretion in these instances. If your acting like a ########, you;l be sure to be done over, if you know what your doing, safely anchored, out of everyones way, then i think its absolute bullshit you cant have more than 3 beers. have never had a problem with it, and never known anyonhe to get done whislt at anchor. and will continue to have a good few beers whilst anchored, to knock off a hard weeks work, and dont tell me the other 95% of boats at anchorages arent doing the same. (inc QPS vessels) -

[Camo]

If I remember correctly it works out that if you consume one standard drink, your blood alcohol would be equal to .02%. This is equal to 20mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood. So if for example you drank the equivalent of 2 standard drinks of any type of liquor, within an hour (must be a standard drink, for example a stubbie is more than a standard drink) then your blood alcohol would go up to .04%. Your blood alcohol continues to rise in a normal person for one hour after you have finished your last drink. After that an average healthy person eliminates .02% per hour. So after you finished your last drink it would take you approximately 3 hours to get back to about zero. That is if you stopped drinking after the second drink. As you can see it can get very complicated, especially if you're not drinking standard drinks. Best idea is not to drink if you've got to drive. One thing to remember is that it doesn't matter what size or body shape you are the amount of alcohol you drink is always going to be equal to the amount that goes into you blood stream. How it affects you depends on the individual, and lots of other factors. Thats why you can probably have 2 drinks an hour and one every hour after that, you would probably be okay, provided they were standard drinks.

Camo

[Fish Guts]

a xxxx gold stubbie is one standard drink

[Sea-Dog]

a xxxx gold stubbie is one standard drink

And a fine standard it is.....

[Corry]

In the danger of starting the whole debate on alcohol up again, I've got some questions that I am unsure of the answers.
There are a number of us going on a houseboat holiday in Hinchinbrook later in the year, we are on the boat for a week. The way we understand the legislation is that one of us must stay under 0.05 at all times as the houseboat won't be moored in a Marina. BUT... what about the owners of the three tinnies we are taking that will be tied to the back of the houseboat?
I am unable to find anything in the legislation that mentions a boat that is tied to a boat.
Does anyone know where we stand here, preferably if a link or a document can be directed for clarification it would be appreciated.
Don't wish to take any chances with this, too much risk.

Cheers
Corry

[Fish Guts]

good question you raise corry. I personally woudlnt worry at all. Make sure someone is under the limit on the houseboat. I think the only way youd get done with the tinnies is if someone is visibly in/or attempting to operate the tinnies. I think the sober person under the legal limit would satisfy the legal obligations if the tinnie needed to be moved.

Ring up the bareboat company and get some info on moorings that you could tie up to, in the event that everyone wanted to get a few drinks happening.

hope you have a ball.


cheers

fish guts

[disorderly]

good question you raise corry. I personally woudlnt worry at all. Make sure someone is under the limit on the houseboat. I think the only way youd get done with the tinnies is if someone is visibly in/or attempting to operate the tinnies. I think the sober person under the legal limit would satisfy the legal obligations if the tinnie needed to be moved.

Ring up the bareboat company and get some info on moorings that you could tie up to, in the event that everyone wanted to get a few drinks happening.

hope you have a ball.


cheers

fish guts

Yeah,I think that fishguts is on the money here.
As long as someone with a boat licence is sober on the mothership and no one operates the moored tinnys whilst intoxicated then its going to be a good trip.
Hope the weather improves for you though.I was out around Dunk Is. this arvo and the windy trend this year shows no sign of abating.

Scott

[KGW3]

Agree with LUC. Some people cannot survive without a beer in their hand at all times. Most likely the cause of all mishaps aboard boats and 95% of ramp rage.
0.0 would suit me.. CUB and Lyon nathon get NONE of my money...

[FrankFWM]

I no longer drink(recently diagnosed with diabetes so can't) anyway, I have previously asked watr police in Qld the question, if I was anchored bow out from the beach with a rear rope to a tree and sitting on my boat at tipplers, can I be booked if I am over .05?

The answer was, technically yes, in reality, unless I was making an a-hole of myself and drawing attention to myself by action stupidly, then they in reality would not book me.

I see a lot of pissed people on boats anchored(tipplers is renowned for it) and I have seen them lose anchor either due to them not knoing to leave anough rope out due to inexperience or just bad weather and I have seen them also get into fist fights because someone else's boat hit them. Because they were drunk, (in my opinon) they have been very agro and people were assaulted.

Basicly, my view is, don't drink if your the person in charge of the boat regardless of anchored or not. Simple.

That's my 2 cents anyway...