Who Agrees

[Bernard]

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/23453890.norfolk-broads-must-free-drunken-boat-drivers/

 

I'm quite partial to the odd G&T whilst cruising along.

[Smoggy]

Is there a list of injuries and fatalities to back up this massive danger? If so where the hell are they hiding the bodies?

I'm all for a beer while cruising, within reason of course, and I can usually get quite drunk without upsetting everyone around me as I suspect most normal folk can.

[Mouldy]

Slightly contentious post, given that another current thread references a fatal accident on the rivers.  There is little doubt that over indulgence in falling over water could be extremely dangerous on a boat, even if not at the helm.  Falling in when inebriated, in more tidal areas in particular, wouldn’t be good.  It appears that some people’s ability to recognise their limits is sadly lacking, so enjoying a glass or two whilst onboard is probably okay.

The issues arise when those limits are exceeded and one person’s enjoyment affects many others.  These days, one doesn’t have to look far to witness selfish or loutish behaviour in all aspects of our lives.

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, Bernard said:

https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/23453890.norfolk-broads-must-free-drunken-boat-drivers/

 

This also appeared on the EDP website along with another article entitled "Broads Authority : We are not the Fun Police". In other words don't blame us, it's not our problem.  I notice this article no longer appears!

In that respect they are correct.  You cannot be breathalised on the Broads in the same way that you can on the roads. You can, however, be prosecuted for dangerous navigation.  Part of the proof of that, is if you are considered to have had too much to drink to be capable of driving the boat.

12 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

Slightly contentious post, given that another current thread references a fatal accident on the rivers.

Which, unless I have missed something, had nothing at all to do with alcohol.

Statistics have proved that alcohol related accidents, over several decades on the Broads, have consisted of people staggering out of the pub in the dark and falling in the river.   Again, nothing to do with driving a boat.

[Ray]

The article goes a bit over the top, the writer clearly has an axe to grind against all motor boats as a sail boat enthusiast.

Having said that, the problem does exist of course but depriving everyone of a responsible tipple while on holiday because of the bad behavior of others won't wash!

[Mouldy]

15 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Which, unless I have missed something, had nothing at all to do with alcohol.

Statistics have proved that alcohol related accidents, over several decades on the Broads, have consisted of people staggering out of the pub in the dark and falling in the river.   Again, nothing to do with driving a boat.

Nothing missed Vaughan, but as you state alcohol related incidents on The Broads are due to people falling in the river having over imbibed.  There is clearly the potential for folk on a boat being too drunk to negotiate the gap between boat and quay heading to fall in.

There can be no doubt that alcohol numbs the senses and gives some people the idea that they have ‘super powers.’

Sadly, the actions of the minority, often have consequences for the majority.  It’s happened before and will happen again.  Selfishness has largely replaced selflessness in our society.  Insufficient thought is often given to others and the consequences that may follow.

[Smoggy]

The anti-social behaviour aspect is already illegal under public order offences just no-one is there to enforce it and it's a legal thing not a BA thing.

How do they plan to stop people hiring the boat then picking up the beer or stopping at a pub? Why people feel the need to be abusive when drunk I just don't get, I'll often take the pee a bit more but only in good humour and I'm terrible for it anyway.(I will glady take it back as well)

36 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

Sadly, the actions of the minority, often have consequences for the majority.  It’s happened before and will happen again.  Selfishness has largely replaced selflessness in our society.  Insufficient thought is often given to others and the consequences that may follow.

That is a very true statement indeed unfortunately.

[SwanR]

I don’t drink alcohol if I’m going to be driving a car. I don’t drink alcohol if I’m going to be helming a boat. I know you go at very different speeds but you still need control, rational thinking, and quick reactions. I have never understood why anyone thinks it’s ok to have an alcoholic drink while at the helm. 

[CeePee1952]

27 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

I'll often take the pee a bit more but only in good humour 

That is a very true statement indeed unfortunately.

At my age, I tend to pee more than normal after quaffing a few jars and once the tap is opened that's the trend for the rest of the night 

Chris

[Hylander]

It really all depends on who is drinking the alcoholic drink.   I say that because years ago my step daughter had a boyfriend who after 1/2 of a lager thought he was Rambo.    So goodness only knows how he would have fared on a pub crawl.

[mikeyboy1966]

I don’t generally have any alcohol till the boat is moored for the day,

I can tell you it’s definitely not just a broads thing.

on the GRO ,drunk skippers/crew is the norm on both private and day boats,

as for music blaring out,don’t get me started on that.

however,we do have plentiful quiet and remote moorings so it’s easy to get away from the riff raff 

[Smoggy]

55 minutes ago, mikeyboy1966 said:

so it’s easy to get away from the riff raff

Your safe, I'm on the broads...

[Mouldy]

3 hours ago, CeePee1952 said:

At my age, I tend to pee more than normal after quaffing a few jars and once the tap is opened that's the trend for the rest of the night 

Chris

Oh, I know that feeling!

[Ray]

+1 🙄

[MauriceMynah]

I have heard better constructed rants from a primary school playground. The author needs to be taken to one side and left there.

There is a difference between having a drink or two as against getting drunk. I really feel like loosing it when confronted by these do gooders even the ones who are better able to hold a discussion.

Banning booze on the Broads would be the final straw for many holiday boaters. 

Nope, that article has really hacked me off, and if it wasn't for the fact that I'm lying in bed and that it's 6:30 AM , I'd have to pour myself a small libation just to calm myself down.

Hmmm, that's never stopped me in the past,  where's the rum, after all,  I'm not going to be on the helm for another two hours yet.

[Vaughan]

Morning, MM! I didn't know whether to give that a "like" or a "laugh".

This person certainly seems to have a personal agenda and typically, she is using her privileged position as a journalist to make a noise about it.

Yet another "Crusader for the Truth at all costs".

[Mouldy]

On 15/04/2023 at 11:59, Mouldy said:

Sadly, the actions of the minority, often have consequences for the majority.  It’s happened before and will happen again.  Selfishness has largely replaced selflessness in our society.  Insufficient thought is often given to others and the consequences that may follow.

I posted my thoughts on this thread just a couple of days ago.  Over the intervening period two things have come to my attention to prove my point.  Stealing the donation box for water at Gayes Staithe is just petty.  If enough folk fail to make their online contributions for water, it’s not hard to imagine that the tap will be removed and further impact the boating community.

As for The Secret Gardens at How Hill, what an I say?  Vandalism and theft have caused them to be closed.

Obviously, neither of these incidents is directly related to the question of alcohol and it’s consumption on a boat, but more in line with our society and the elements within it, that think that it’s okay to carry out these petty acts that impact so many more of us.

[LondonRascal]

The theft of the donation box (while a sad reflection of our society) made me consider, how often do I actually have any change on me (or any money) for that matter to use donation boxes?  The issue with the bank account details being shared as they have chosen to do so, is this leaves this open now for someone to scam - just stick over it a newly made account details  and have funds meant for the Trustee's of the Staithe head into your account, how often might they check the balance/signage has not been tampered with?

What would have been far better and easier and safer is a QR code to scan and send money this way.  One of the larger providers is Yello [https://www.yoello.com/] You have a sticker with the unique QR code on it, person uses their phones camera which recognises it to be a QR code and you tap the link which then allows payment to be sent. It is far cheaper than an waterproof battery/solar powered contactless card reader and far more likely to be used than someone having to send a payment for some water via BACS!

You see, this sort of thing is going to become more and more of an issue as fewer people use physical cash for transactions. As I began this post, I don't carry cash usually (or even a wallet and credit/debit cards) because these are too insecure. Once someone gets their hands on a card these days, they can tap it and straight off £100.00 is gone - that is per card! If you have a few cards on you, this might run into a few hundred quid you are walking around with digitally but available to anyone to spend if they have the card. An Apple Pay/Android Pay enabled phone does not need a phone signal to make the transaction work, but does need your fingerprint/Face I.D/Passcode to enable the transaction, if someone nicks the phone, they have no way to use the digital wallet and reporting the phone lost/stolen to your bank means the cards held in the digital wallet are automatically deleted too being an added layer of security.

 

[grendel]

40 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

What would have been far better and easier and safer is a QR code to scan and send money this way.

Robin, while you dont carry cash, I dont carry a smart phone, I am already struggling parking the car, due to car parks assuming everyone has a smartphone, yet I always have a handful of cash on me, my parents have an old fashioned mobile phone, they dont even have the internet. and its my guess that there are quite a few people who would struggle should everything go digital.

a few years ago I was sitting a test for a construction pass, in that field there are more than a few digitally challenged people who do a great job, out of the 20 candidates on the test, there must have been at least 3 who had absolutely no idea how to use a computer mouse.

its not safe to assume that everyone can cope with technology, or has it available.

[MargeandParge]

Back to the booze only when Ole Marge and myself are moored up till its been dark (at least once) do we partake of relaxing juice. After all when you get older you can't give a drink the respect it deserves and Pilot a boat as well. .

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[troggy]

On 15/04/2023 at 10:50, Smoggy said:

Is there a list of injuries and fatalities to back up this massive danger? If so where the hell are they hiding the bodies?

I'm all for a beer while cruising, within reason of course, and I can usually get quite drunk without upsetting everyone around me as I suspect most normal folk can.

We can still smoke cannabis though right?

[oldgregg]

1 hour ago, LondonRascal said:

The theft of the donation box (while a sad reflection of our society) made me consider, how often do I actually have any change on me (or any money) for that matter to use donation boxes?  The issue with the bank account details being shared as they have chosen to do so, is this leaves this open now for someone to scam - just stick over it a newly made account details  and have funds meant for the Trustee's of the Staithe head into your account, how often might they check the balance/signage has not been tampered with?

What would have been far better and easier and safer is a QR code to scan and send money this way.  One of the larger providers is Yello [https://www.yoello.com/] You have a sticker with the unique QR code on it, person uses their phones camera which recognises it to be a QR code and you tap the link which then allows payment to be sent. It is far cheaper than an waterproof battery/solar powered contactless card reader and far more likely to be used than someone having to send a payment for some water via BACS!

You see, this sort of thing is going to become more and more of an issue as fewer people use physical cash for transactions. As I began this post, I don't carry cash usually (or even a wallet and credit/debit cards) because these are too insecure. Once someone gets their hands on a card these days, they can tap it and straight off £100.00 is gone - that is per card! If you have a few cards on you, this might run into a few hundred quid you are walking around with digitally but available to anyone to spend if they have the card. An Apple Pay/Android Pay enabled phone does not need a phone signal to make the transaction work, but does need your fingerprint/Face I.D/Passcode to enable the transaction, if someone nicks the phone, they have no way to use the digital wallet and reporting the phone lost/stolen to your bank means the cards held in the digital wallet are automatically deleted too being an added layer of security.

 

It's a fair point, although people could do it with a QR code too. It's a bit more sophisticated an act, but if they're printing a sticker they're printing a sticker....

[LondonRascal]

29 minutes ago, grendel said:

Robin, while you dont carry cash, I dont carry a smart phone, I am already struggling parking the car, due to car parks assuming everyone has a smartphone, yet I always have a handful of cash on me, my parents have an old fashioned mobile phone, they dont even have the internet. and its my guess that there are quite a few people who would struggle should everything go digital.

a few years ago I was sitting a test for a construction pass, in that field there are more than a few digitally challenged people who do a great job, out of the 20 candidates on the test, there must have been at least 3 who had absolutely no idea how to use a computer mouse.

its not safe to assume that everyone can cope with technology, or has it available.

I should agree with you, and inside I kind of do, but at the same time, this is no longer 'new'. It is like someone not knowing how to use the Internet, when I have been using it for 26 years. To put that in perspective, a 75 year old unfamiliar with such to this day would have been have been 49 years old, working and very much aware of computers and 'the Web' back in 1997. Even if they had not used such then (may their work did not involve using a computer) as the years have moved on, and we have become increasingly dependant upon such, they will have have many opposites to learn about such. Indeed, I would say these days the use of Tablets to connect is far far better than a computer as they are safer, faster, and don't go wrong/need as much knowledge to use as a computer does. There has to be the point where legacy ways (which cost more to process and deal with) give way to the current methods.  

The 'Smartphone revolution' really kicked off with the iPhone, and that launched in 2007. Even if one was not an early adopter of such, that was 16 years ago, and by now, almost all mobile users have a Smartphone partly because they have had to as Contracts provide new models over the years, and moreover because people aspire to have new and nicer items showing off their status. Nowadays, it is a choice to not have a smartphone and if someone chooses not to use one, they also increasingly need to accept that choice may well preclude them from taking part in everything from saving money in Supermarkets, to not being able to pay for parking as machines for taking payments are slowly phased out.

[LondonRascal]

10 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

It's a fair point, although people could do it with a QR code too. It's a bit more sophisticated an act, but if they're printing a sticker they're printing a sticker....

But then the sticker printing scammer would also have to have a website landing page set-up to mimic the real one, and would they go to all that trouble for a small Staithe on the Broads for a few quid? I guess, the real point of my post was not the fraud element of showing the bank details in a public place, more the fact this is hassle and hassle equals lack of tak-up. I could not use the bank details to pay, while I have the App for my Bank, new payments need the card-reader which is always at home, and I am not likely to bother to make a note of the bank details, and send off the money days later from home when I remember to and use the card-reader then.

[oldgregg]

They'd just set up a similar service to what you're proposing, surely?

Sure it's a bit of effort, but it then yields a nice passive income and without explicit bank details printed there it's much harder for the rozzers to track.