Drunk skipper founders his yacht

[Normanby]

My yacht is a Compass 28, and she's luxurious to me.
Sailboat to Nth Merkins, yacht to everyone else.


Matt
Compass 28

[atoll]

we need to put things in perspective here.....not the world according to sky news

LITTLE KNOWN TIDBIT OF NAVAL HISTORY...






Click image for larger versionName: constitution.JPGViews: 54Size: 152.9 KB
ID: 20158







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!

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by skipmac

Whether an incident makes the news or not isn't really my point.

Unless the newspaper article was totally wrong (have seen it happen more than once) or the writer lied (less likely but not unheard of) the captain was seriously drunk, way to impaired to be driving a boat. 0.165 blood alcohol level is not SPIN or holier than thou, self righteous ranting, that is very, very drunk. Most casual drinkers would be unconscious or unable to walk with that much alcohol in their system.

Don't know about where you are but in the US a number of people are killed every year because they were driving impaired. Assuming the numbers were correct, that guy had no business driving a boat and should be held responsible.

By the way, I doubt anyone that knows me would put me into the do gooder or HTT category.

It depends on the person. I drank cocktails for 7.5 hrs, blew a .35 into a breathalyzer (twice) then drank 2L of beer in about 45 minutes, then drove into a road block 20 minutes later. The officer smelled alcohol on all 3 of us, so he asked me to take a sobriety test. After passing the first 3 tests successfully, he stopped it and let me go.

I was impaired, but it did not affect my speech, driving smoothly and straight, my ability to make conversation, walk straight, balance on one foot, or my eye tracking.

I'm not bragging, just pointing out that one can develop such a high tolerance that .165 might not impair one's judgement at all. He could have been completely sober when his judgement told him he didn't need to top off the fuel tank. The authorities are going to blame it all on alcohol for revenue reasons, not because they can prove impairment caused the chain of events.

For the record, I firmly believe reaction times, in addition to other tests of motor skills - are a true test of level of impairment, not an arbitrary BAC number.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by atoll

we need to put things in perspective here.....not the world according to sky news

LITTLE KNOWN TIDBIT OF NAVAL HISTORY...






Click image for larger versionName: constitution.JPGViews: 54Size: 152.9 KB
ID: 20158







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!

Now THAT was a successful cruise!!

[cal40john]

Since people are nitpicking about alcohol levels and yacht/boat, I'll nitpick on people saying the boat foundered (to fill with water and sink), or others who just said it sank. The video clearly shows the boat/yacht is sitting high and mostly dry on a rock out of the water.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Sun and Moon

I'm with Skipmac on this one. .165 is not drunk, it's way beyond plastered. He has no business operating a toaster in this condition, never mind a boat. I saw a TV show years ago where they took college students, got them drinking and driving on a closed, controlled course. Long before they got to the legal level most of them were passed out. So .165 is not only mind-bogglingly drunk, it's a sure sign of long term tolerance. This guy can thank his lucky stars if he ends up in a program that helps him deal with his drinking problem. Before he kills someone.

Really?

You've never met this person, but you're convinced he has a drinking problem just from reading a newspaper article?

May I ask what your qualifications are in regards to determining who is an alcoholic?

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by cal40john

Since people are nitpicking about alcohol levels and yacht/boat, I'll nitpick on people saying the boat foundered (to fill with water and sink), or others who just said it sank. The video clearly shows the boat/yacht is sitting high and mostly dry on a rock out of the water.

You are correct, and it makes a difference. Until now, I thought it was synonymous with "run aground."

Thanks, I learn something every day!

[MarkJ]

Hight, dry, no damage. Probably off by now and fine.

By the way, theres alcohol calculators on the net (bless Google)
Its 10.5 beers over 3 hours if he weighed 200 pounds 90 kgs.

So whoever said 10 beers was spot on.

By the way Balmoral is quite a nice suburb. If he were to own the rock the boat is resting on he would be a wealthy man...

[estarzinger]

From today's scuttlebutt:

"Any damn fool can navigate the world sober. It takes a really good sailor to do it drunk." - Sir Francis Chichester

[charliehows]

I like a drink. But .165 is pretty close to shitfaced as far as I'm concerned. There's nowhere in sydney harbour you cant drop an anchor, including where this drongo ran up on the rocks. The story only made the news because it was a good picture.

[svmariane]

#MeanwhileInReality...

I take issue with the original premises for what occurred - I'll not join the debate concerning consumption of alcohol 'till I've had a few more bevies.

founder
(of a ship, boat, etc.) to fill with water and sink.

flounder
struggle or stagger helplessly or clumsily in water or mud.
"he was floundering about in the shallow offshore waters"

Methinks the lad floundered, not foundered.

[Snore]

Thank goodness he wasn't from Florida...

Go OZ!!

[clownfishsydney]

He was over three times over the legal limit for boating in New South Wales (0.05%). The yacht was pulled off the rocks but not before bashing a couple of times into underwater reef as it went.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

It depends on the person. I drank cocktails for 7.5 hrs, blew a .35 into a breathalyzer (twice) then drank 2L of beer in about 45 minutes, then drove into a road block 20 minutes later. The officer smelled alcohol on all 3 of us, so he asked me to take a sobriety test. After passing the first 3 tests successfully, he stopped it and let me go.

I was impaired, but it did not affect my speech, driving smoothly and straight, my ability to make conversation, walk straight, balance on one foot, or my eye tracking.

I'm not bragging, just pointing out that one can develop such a high tolerance that .165 might not impair one's judgement at all. He could have been completely sober when his judgement told him he didn't need to top off the fuel tank. The authorities are going to blame it all on alcohol for revenue reasons, not because they can prove impairment caused the chain of events.

For the record, I firmly believe reaction times, in addition to other tests of motor skills - are a true test of level of impairment, not an arbitrary BAC number.

.350 yeah right.. Some of the highest readings and your not bragging..

[Rustic Charm]

0.165 is pretty high, but it's not an indication of sobriety. As a former cop, 0.165 was a pretty common offense and it was rarely enough to charge someone with Driving under the influence or DUI. Despite this, plenty of studies indicate he would have had an impaired reaction and ability to problem solve. Bottom line is he should not have been on the water.

The next day the owner had the vessel towed to a slip. The rudder was ripped off, not sure of the other damage.

In Australia a 'yacht' is both a large luxary motor boat and any sail boat bigger than a skiff or dingy. But, it's commonly thought that anyone who can afford a yacht, regardless of age has a luxary item. A myth of course.