Booze Cruise - Crew drinking

Booze Cruise - When is enough too much?

Yachting is an environment where everything is frequently taken to the max, from credit cards to work load to stress to drinking. It's a known fact that many people use alcohol to relax, to sign off at the end of a hard days work. The nice icy sip as it makes it's way down your throat can be the best feeling.

But what happens in an environment where alcohol is a matter of course with meals not to mention sundowners and night caps? Hard partying is invariably accompanied by hard drinking. Fine - in it's time and place but what if it's too much?

A recovering alcoholic once explained that it wasn't the alcohol that he craved as much as the sensation of being drunk.

Being drunk on a yacht is not simply being a case of being unable to work, it can mean that you put your life and those of your fellow crew in sigbnificant danger too. There are yachts where captains and senior management use breathalyzers to test their crew, not wanting to risk putting life and vessel into the hands of crew who are operating well below par.

Early Warning Signs

• If you can check any of these boxes it's may be time that you examined your drinking habits
• If anyone in your family is an alcoholic it may mean you have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism and it is advisable that you are aware of the warning signs
• Been unable to stick to a self imposed limit.
• Being drunk with increasing frequency
• Needing to take time off to come to terms with a raging hangover
• Finding yourself having or causing accidents because of drinking or being drunk
• Feeling very defensive and angry when questioned about the amount of alcohol you consume
• Doing and regretting something you would never do when sober
• No memory of events while drinking

If the above happen infrequently you may just need to think more carefully about reducing the number of drinks you have and where and when you decide to have them.

Signs you might have a problem If you can check any of these boxes you may find you have a growing problem with alcohol. Make an immediate and concerted effort to cut back on alocohol and seek professional advice as soon as possible. Failure to do so could cost you your job and your health.

• When friends, family and colleagues express their concern about your drinking
• Feeling secretly uncomfortable and concerned about your drinking
• Worrying about when you can have your next drink
• Drinking earlier and earlier in the day, possibly having alcohol at breakfast
• Drinking your first drink very quickly
• Feeling you are incapable of doing or facing certain things until you have had a drink
• Feeling sick, having the shakes, sweating in the morning or middle of the night
• Drinking secretively where people can't see you and lying about how much you have drunk
• Conciously hiding the evidence of your drinking - hiding bottles and empty alcohol containers
• Ordering doubles when it’s your round

Alcohol dependency

If you can check any of the boxes below, please look for expert help as soon as possible. Your dependency on alcohol may be damaging your health and risking the safety of others

• Needing to drink more and more to get the same effect
• Always wake up with the shakes and feeling sweaty
• Need a drink to start the day
• Drink large quantities over the course of the day without it making you drunk
• Feel uncomfortable if you don’t have a drink at hand
• Lie about your drinking