You can be sober as a judge and still get killed by idiots. This is about being safe not having one beer with a meal.

On my home lake, I just stay off the water during the big three holidays. This is when the danger is the highest.

Many of these folks have no clue which is why we need to have a boat pilot license with different levels.

We let anyone rent a houseboat with no boating experience for example. Jet Skis are another issue.

Currently anyone with a credit score can terrorise us on the lake in a drunken state.

Anyone who tubes their children around inexperienced drunken boaters is taking a risk much higher than having a few beers.

Not defending boating and drinking, just saying.

Zero tolerance laws would solve nothing. Just like gun control. Don't we have enough government in our daily lives? Pretty soon, it'll be illegal to salt your food. Boating is 99.99% common sense. Be smart and be careful out there.

I like to lasso the drunk, jerk them out of the boat or off the ski drag them about 1/2 mile or so at 80-100 MPH seems to sober them right up. Works really good if the rope is just long enough to keep them inside the rooster.

That's like the modern-day version of keelhauling, right?

Yeah? Yeah.
Great. Now the ACLU has to be involved, because we're advocating corporal punishment for a misdemeanor offense.

FWIW, I think boats should have sobrietors. But only after jet skis have some sort of standardized onboard IQ testing mechanism.

Would seem that no matter how often this question comes up there are always people that just think all is fine with the mix of alcohol and the operation of a boat. What I just never see here is anyone step up and explain the why of the two being a good mix.

I'm probably one of the younger boat owners on here at 29 (about to turn 30) but I have never drank a drop of alcohol while operating my boats. I know I can't control what the other drunk boat operators are doing but I can make an attempt to be as alert as possible to deal with them. To be honest, I am disgusted at the fact that people in Ohio born before me are not required to take a boater's safety course (at a minimum) to operate a boat. I don't know how many times I see a boat coming and I manuever out of the way correctly and they turn at me at the same time, not knowing which way they are to turn. Drunk or not drunk my impression of many boaters is utter stupidity. I'm sure that's not the case on here but many older recreational boaters are just as dangerous sober as they are drunk. In the end I am aware of the risks of boating and know I am not perfect and will make mistakes but I'll never drink and increase the likelihood that something could happen.

If insurance companies really wanted to crack down on high performance boating and drinking, it is very simple: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignition_interlock_device

I had an incident in my neighborhood a couple years ago that involved alcohol and a piece of machinery. It caused me to loose my license for 6 months, so between that and my age (27), I pay through the roof to ensure a turbine boat, But. if at any point Stacey said "If you put one of these devices on your boat, your insurance would be cut in half." I would do it in a second.

I have to disagree with most of you even if it's not a popular opinion.

Why have a corvette? It can go so fast and hurt people.

Why have the loto shoot out? The drivers could crash and hurt themselves or the spectators?

Why bang a stripper so hard in an empty cove that she squirts? I mean dehydration in the summer in Texas is a big deal!

We need common sense in this country not more laws or lawyers! 40,000 new laws this year!

Everybody wants to talk tough about booze, but nobody wants to mention the booger sugar, X, Molly, Horse, K, Kush, Oxy, Vics, Ambien, Adderal, or countless other mind altering, judgement impairing substances that boaters may or may not be taking.... No ignition interlock will help with those. And still, with the amount of people on prescription meds these days, everybody wants to blame the booze. I blame the MTV and Timothy Leary.

It's a natural. Boating is sold to us as a way to relax and "get away from it all". The problem is, like my Dad used to tell me when I grew my hair long to "do my own thing" we are all doing the same thing. We think we are free out there when in fact there are many others around us. Bayliners and Sea Rays pulling tubes think they're "getting away from it all" too and have no idea how to deal with it when they barely hear engine noise over the country music and nearly get hit 30 sec later. Maritime law has always put the greater responsibility on the faster more maneuverable craft. If that's you and you drink or use and screw up you deserve to get punished.