Crossett

Drinking and getting drunk are pretty different. A beer or two is not enough to really impair a 180 pound man.

Catastrophe

Agree 200%

But if something happens, the whole topic turns to chit with the insurance company and the police. Better safe than sorry.
is the order of the day.

It protects everyone including the event sponsors.

pokey27

Best way to get out of trouble is to stay out of trouble thats just my 2 cents worth

bajaholic

The laws are getting more stringent as time goes on. If something bad happens and the person blows anything other than .00, It is most likely they will be written a ticket for "under the influence" or "While Impaired", these are subjective and can be written at any time. Then it is up to the driver to contest it.

From my understanding, the first thing the prosecuting Attorney will subpoena is the hold harmless and rules signed at the Poker Run, where it will CLEARLY state 0 tolerance to drinking and it is not a race... That is an entirely different thread, but you can bet that too will be included in the charges...

Celebrate at the end of the day... Not during, remember it your friends you will most likely kill first!

Interceptor

Save the drinking until you get home. Towing one of these boats on land is probably as dangerous as driving it on water.
ed

On Time

Laws, yes and also juries. Remember, the job of a plaintiff attorney is to profit from tragedy. Who else in our society really PROFITS from tragedy other than this scum? They increasingly influence juries to decide these accidents are actually premeditated crimes, in order to reap these enormous profits. If any of you plaintiff attys out there have any balls, call me on this.

Whether you like it or not, this "is what it is" as they say so all of us better be careful.

VtSteve

Boaters have lost many freedoms out on the water due to problem drinkers. It only has to happen once for you life, and those of many others, to be changed permanently.

Year after year, we read about accidents on everything from small fishing boats to pontoons to jet skis to poker run incidents. You don't even have to go fast to be deadly, many accidents happen under 30 mph. You don;t even have to drink to become a victim, ask the people run over or hit by those that did drink.

We've lost family, friends, people go to jail, lawsuits ruin family wealth. Many speed limits on lakes can be at least partially attributed to drinking. Innocent people out on the water are routinely checked out by the various patrols, looking for drinkers.

Boating life in general would be a lot more pleasant, and a lot cheaper in some areas, if not for drinkers. So because of those people, we all suffer. Virtually every state has tightened up their patrols looking for BUI's. If you think you are OK and haven't had that much, think again. It could be a very costly mistake. At worst, a life changing event for your family, and possibly the lives of others.

PhantomChaos

Why not mention the name of the run? Was in in Texas?

Matt Trulio

In addition to every other valid point made here: So many poker runs involve rafting off and putting big boats in small spaces. On a big catamaran, that can mean having one person on each "point" of the boat—scampering across slick or hot fiberglass with high-dollar graphics to get there—to fend off and push and attach lines and throw lines to people on the docks and hop up those docks, which are three feet above cat's gunwales, to tie off.

Not an exactly a great scenario for an under-the-influence, much less outright hammered, crew.

Tie it up, wash it off and head for the bar. I'm buying. Just ask my friends from New Jersey.

XX14

like I said I'm not asking to run down a club. I just asked because I was uncomfortable with it. I also said we had a great time. It's just too bad that the drinking seemed to become a sport. I'm also not at all sure Captains were drinking but my instinct was that the situation was unsafe. One of my biggest concerns was for the other folks on the lake that were uninvolved. I didn't say this run was in Texas and I don't have a hidden agenda other than to decide if we should participate again.