BOATING UNDER THE INFLUENCE

     Boating in Florida is a great way to get away from the everyday strains in life and really enjoy yourself.  Maybe your next boating trip will include skiing, fishing, taking a nice evening trip to a waterside restaurant for dinner, or just cruising with some friends for some “R and R.” You might use a canoe or kayak, a jon boat, a bass or flats boat, a runabout, a center console fishing boat, a pontoon boat, or even a cabin motorboat.  No matter which type of boat you use or where you plan for your boating trip to take you, there is one thing for sure.  Probably the last thing on your mind is that anything could go wrong – and I mean REALLY wrong – in an instant! Drag the boat down the bay and drop it on the dock to continue. If you do not have a mouse you can press tab and then right or left arrow to navigate through scenes. 

     Unfortunately, when alcoholic beverages are combined with the boating environment, things often really do go wrong.  We’re not just talking about hangovers and “heaving,” either.  We’re talking about crunching fiberglass, bending aluminum, splintering docks, and tearing up lower units, out drives, and props.  We are also talking about breaking bones, severe cuts, losing teeth or limbs, or having a person’s life come to an end because of drowning or forceful impact. Keep in mind, these are just average people, just like you and me. If you would like to read about some of these actual cases, click on the un-opened  beer cans.

     Case 1: The father and teenaged son had checked their navigation lights before they left the dock, so they weren’t surprised that they all worked when it got dark and the switch was pulled.  As they slowly traveled down a quiet stretch of canal to comply with the “Slow Down – Minimum Wake” signs, they had no idea that danger was quickly approaching. The putter of their outboard was just enough to drown out the sound of the bigger boat coming at them from behind at high speed.  The bigger boat, which happened to operated by a man who had just left a bar along the canal, never slowed for the speed zone. Apparently the operator never saw the speed zone signs or the bright  white stern light. After he ran directly over the smaller boat and crashed into the bank, both the impaired operator and his passenger realized their mistake and fled the scene on foot, leaving two badly injured people clinging to life. Both survived and those who fled were caught. Witness statements from back at the bar indicated that the operator had no business operating a boat.

     Case 2:  Alcohol-involved boating accidents also happen in good weather and during daylight hours. Many of them don’t have a happy ending.  After an afternoon of drinking alcoholic beverages on and off along a central-Florida river, the operator of a bass boat decided to cross the wake of another boat. While crossing the wake, the operator lost control at approximately 40 mph and suddenly veered to the side. This threw the passenger to the floor. Unfortunately, there was a fallen tree with limbs sticking out of the water directly in the boat’s path. The front of the boat hit the limbs and broke the trolling motor off its bracket. The trolling motor then struck the victim in the head, causing trauma that proved fatal.

     As you might have noticed, what’s supposed to be great fun sometimes isn’t. Occasionally, people jokingly say things like, “Standard equipment on my boat . . . oh, you mean life jackets and a six pack!”  Actually, alcoholic beverages are often considered to be “standard equipment” on a recreational boat.  Without an “open container law” for boating, both the operator and passengers can legally drink alcoholic beverages while boating in Florida. Legally they can, but should they? How much? These are perhaps the most difficult questions to answer. To learn more about physiological effects of alcoholic click on the bridge. I’ll bet you learn something! 

     There are several drugs that are called “alcohol,” but the type intended for human consumption is ethanol.  Ethanol is a naturally occurring drug that is produced by fermentation. The fermentation process can produce a beverage with an alcohol concentration of about 14%.  Beverages with higher ethanol concentrations are distilled; that is, the fermented beverage has been heated until the ethanol boils.  The collected vapor is the distilled ethanol.

     Alcoholic beverages come in “standard” sizes.  A 12-ounce beer, a glass of wine, or a standard mixed-drink all contain the same volume of ethanol.  This means that, drink for drink, they all pack the same “punch.”

     Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that is readily available and legal to consume (at least by those 21 or older).  It’s no wonder that ethanol is the most abused drug in the United States. Since alcohol, by nature, is attracted to the water in our body, the brain is a natural body part for alcohol to affect.  Scientific research has shown that even the first drink of ethanol affects a person’s judgment and muscle control.

     The only effective way to eliminate alcohol in the body is for it to be chemically broken down, or metabolized.  A cold shower, a hot cup of coffee, or a quick lap around the building won’t help . . . it takes time!  If you need to operate a boat or drive a vehicle, it’s best to avoid consuming alcoholic beverages. Traffic has been waiting. Hold down on the draw bridge to let the boat through.

     Florida residents have far too many stories about boating collisions, falls overboard, and near misses, all because someone had too much to drink while boating or was, as we call it, boating under the influence.   

     Okay!  So far you have learned how alcoholic beverages affect the body. You also learned about some people who had real life encounters  with an impaired boater or actually violated Florida’s boating under the influence laws themselves. Now, lets get to the real meat of the subject.  Find the FWC boat in the photo and click on it to continue.

     It’s pretty easy to identify a “drunk” person, but our boating under the influence laws are not necessarily talking about someone who is “drunk.”  Is that hard to believe?  For most people it is. Most of us think that a person has to show those obvious signs before they have gone too far with their drinking.  Florida law prohibits driving a car or operating a boat while “IMPAIRED.” Impairment actually happens way before a person becomes what most people would classify as “drunk.”  A good study was done in Maryland a few years ago that shows how a person’s ability to operate a boat is affected as they drink more and more alcohol. To read a summary of this surprising study, click on the light house to open up the research report.

FOUNDATION FINDINGS

A Boater Education Series

Report #32: January 1999 - Alcohol and Boating: Drinking on Your Boat - It Really Does Matter

Used with permission from the Boat US Foundation

     On a delightful Chesapeake Indian Summer day in 1999, a 44-year old male, a boater all his life, decided to try out a 18’ center console

boat on the Rhode River in Maryland.  After a quick spin around a nearby cove and arriving safely back at the dock, he thought it was time

for a shot of vodka.  It was 10:30AM.

     After about 15 minutes talking boats with his friends, this very experienced boater took another quick trip in the boat.   Powered by a

90-hp outboard, the boat performed perfectly as he maneuvered around the same cove again, this time at higher speed.  The operator was

"getting a better feel for the boat," he said.  And although by then, as he later admitted, he was "getting a buzz on," he brought the boat

back to the dock - deliberately and almost overcautiously - without incident, despite the alcohol.

     That called for another drink.  When he took the Parker out a third time, he "was really starting to feel the booze," as he confessed

afterward.

     "I was pretty confident that I could handle it, but I had to concentrate hard on what I was doing," he confided to friends several days

afterward.  "If there were any other boats around, I didn't notice them and I never realized I'd hit that buoy.  But I didn't do any real

damage anyway."

     Witnesses later said that when this man pulled the Parker into a slip on the cove, the port quarter hit the dock hard.   The operator,

now rather flustered, backed down and tried again.  Once inside the slip the second time, he attempted to reverse the engine to stop but

got confused. He revved the engine in forward instead and ran the bow up on the dock.   Fortunately, there was no damage from this

incident either.

     Despite his obvious impairment level, this boater wouldn't quit.  Ashore with his friends again and laughing sheepishly about the

docking experience, he knocked back another vodka.  By then, as tests would later show, this man's blood alcohol concentration (BAC)

stood at 0.11, well over Maryland's 0.08 Boating Under the Influence law. Clearly, this boater was "operating under the influence."  Or as

Officer David Scheler of the Maryland Natural Resources Police put it - using terms any jury would have understood - "This guy was

smashed."

     On any other day, Officer Scheler would have taken the boater ashore, probably in handcuffs, for an accurate BAC test that would be

admissible in a court of law.  And this otherwise responsible boater would have drank his way to criminal prosecution and a stiff fine.  But

this wasn't just any day and a boater who most people would have agreed had no business being on the water, did.  That's because he was

one of four BoatUS staff members who volunteered to test the influence of alcohol on their boat-handling abilities for a special "Foundation

Findings" research project.

Water Is a Poor Chaser

     As more states adopt strict operating-under-the-influence (OUI) laws that mirror stepped-up alcohol enforcement on the roads, boaters

are coming under increasing scrutiny.  Venturing out on the water after drinking, even after moderate social drinking, can be very

hazardous. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, alcohol is a major factor in as much as 50% of all recreational boating fatalities.

     The Coast Guard says a boat operator with a blood alcohol concentration above 0.10 – still the legal threshold in several states

(excluding Florida, where our 0.08 BAC is more strict) - is 10 times more likely to be killed in a boating accident than a boater with zero

BAC.

     No matter what the activity, alcohol affects balance, vision, coordination and judgment.  But in boating, stressors like wind, sun, noise,

motion, and vibration can magnify the effects of alcohol and even accelerate impairment.

     Numerous studies have measured the effects of alcohol on motorists, but comparatively little scientific study has gone into boating and

alcohol. While it is possible to extrapolate data from motor vehicle research, the Foundation’s desire was to find out, firsthand, how alcohol

would affect experienced boaters.  They also wanted to see what could be learned, at least anecdotally, from the test subjects' own

recollections of their performance stacked against data collected by on-scene observers.

The Float Plan

     In the "Foundation Findings" research, both on-water and shoreside components were developed in cooperation with the Maryland

Natural Resources Police (MNRP).  The boat selected was a Parker 18 described at the beginning of this report, actually a confiscated vessel

used by the marine police for undercover surveillance operations.

     For the on-water segment, the subjects were put through three exercises, a slalom course at planing speed through six buoys, a

steerage-speed run through six more buoys placed in a zigzag pattern, and a docking test.

     For the "dock," a floating structure was built using sections of four-inch plastic pipe configured as a single-loaded slip.  The dock,

anchored adjacent to the test course, measured 10 feet wide by 20 feet long.  A MNRP vessel patrolled outside the cove the entire time to

prevent other boats from straying into the test area.  For the test subjects, two men and two women were selected.

Name Your Poison

     The test subjects were offered a choice of vodka or rum, both 80 proof, straight or with water.  A "drink" measured 1oz. of alcoholic

beverage.  To maintain a constant evaluation basis, a strict time schedule was observed, waiting 15 minutes after each drink for the

ethanol to get into the bloodstream.

     Each test sequence started on shore with a breath testing instrument reading to establish breath alcohol concentration and three field

sobriety tests commonly used in law enforcement, all administered by the marine patrol officers.  These consisted of walking a straight line

nine paces and walking back, standing on one foot while counting to 30 and the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus test.  In this test the subject is

asked to focus on the movement of a pen or some other subject held just above eye level.  Involuntary eye movements help identify some

level of impairment and the clues demonstrated by the subject’s performance on these tests helps the officer to establish "probable cause"

that the person is impaired.

     Finally, each subject navigated the on-water course under the supervision of an officer who commanded the boat between the dock and

control buoys marking the beginning and the end of the course.  Test subjects took the helm at the first control buoy although the officer

held an engine kill switch at all times.   Afterward, the officer recorded operator performance (see graph), as well as observations on each

subject's behavior. Click on the Graph to continue.

Operator Error

     For safety reasons, as well as to record data, a "buddy" was assigned to each test subject. Their job was to ensure that the subject

ran through the test sequences in the proper order and time allotted as well as to keep them out of harm's way.  All parties wore life

jackets at all times.

     After one drink, the BAC of the subjects, all of different body types, ranged form 0.02 to 0.05. All subjects performed adequately on

the water although two maintained slightly erratic control over boat speed.  And the same two hit the dock.

     With a second round of drinks under their life jackets (some chose to have “doubles” due to their suspected metabolism), the

subject’s BACs ranged from 0.05 to 0.10. This time all four did poorly on the field sobriety tests yet each appeared more relaxed and

confident in the on-water test. 

     Following the third round of drinks, BACs ranged from 0.08 to 0.12 and the field sobriety tests showed that each was clearly

inebriated. The assisting officer recorded that the subjects varied boat speed greatly this time, taking very wide turns and

overcompensating on the helm.  Again, two hit the dock and one hit a buoy.

     Performance in all categories after the fourth round of drinks proved far worse. At this point, two subjects had to be removed.  The

two remaining, a male and a female, had both reached 0.13 BAC or higher by that time, nearly twice the legal threshold in 17 states.

They got through the on-water course, but with great difficulty, proving only that some boaters can physically manage to take a boat

out on the water, even at that level of intoxication.  In reality, they would be a serious threat to other boaters, their passengers, and

themselves.

Reflection

     In the cold light of a later day, the test subjects and their observer "buddies" gathered for a debriefing.  Each observer noted that

the level of mental concentration the subjects needed in order to compensate for the effects of alcohol increased markedly throughout

the day.

     Each subject also noted that he or she began to loose track of activities around them as BAC rose.  This was very obvious to the

observers.  Interestingly, two subjects recalled being aware that their peripheral vision suffered as BAC rose, too.  At or beyond legal

intoxication level, however, they were neither very aware nor concerned about activities around them.

     Observers also noted that as the day went on, the subjects paid less attention to details like having their life jackets fastened

properly or whether their assigned buddy was with them.

     Each subject noted that even at moderate BAC levels, any unforeseen situations would have created problems for them in

operating the boat.   Any variable - obstacle in the water, approaching vessel, man overboard - that would have required a quick

decision or spontaneous reaction could have had dire consequences.

     Most subjects agreed that the lag time "before the alcohol hits you" can produce a false sense of security that could lull a boater

into drinking too much in too short a period.

The Sober Truth

     Most boaters think of collisions as the greatest threat when drinking on the water.   Yet, according to BoatUS Foundation for

Boating Safety research, an estimated 75% of alcohol-related boating accidents and injuries do not involve collisions.  In fact, falls on

board or overboard, or missteps at the dock or getting into a boat, are a much greater threat when drinking on or around the

water. 

     It is more important to note that the subjects in our test were boaters who do not drink when operating their own boats.  Of

course, they knew this was a test and that quite naturally prompted them to concentrate harder on activities than a boater who may

assume it is okay to drink and operate a boat or one who doesn't think twice about doing it.

     In addition, this research was conducted under ideal, controlled conditions, conditions that the average boater will seldom

encounter on the water.

     With most "Foundations Findings" tests, the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety advises you to try the products yourself.

However, when it comes to drinking alcoholic beverages and boating, they emphatically ask you to take their word that it is not a good

idea.

     To continue, please click on the picture below that represents your personal favorite method of sobriety testing.

Click on the correct words or phrases in the following list that describe a person you would

 consider to be “drunk.”

Blood shot watery eyes

Bad body order

Slurred Speech

Moody

Talks loud

Poor Balance

Smells like brewery

Happy

     So, how do you know when you have had too many?  Are you really able to make that decision when you have already had a few?  You know, one of the first physiological affects of alcohol is “liberation,” or better known as loss of inhibitions and judgment.  Most people will admit that they feel a little “loosened up” after the first drink.  The part of their brain being affected really is  loosening up (losing control).  How then can a person really expect to make good decisions – like when to say “enough” or “maybe I should have someone else drive” – when their judgment is affected by alcohol?  This is exactly why so many people make poor decisions, take way more risk than they normally would, and choose to drive a car or operate a boat under the influence. The best time to make those important decisions, like how to get home, is to plan it ahead of time with a “designated driver” who is not drinking alcohol. You can click on the cruise ship to rewind.