An Alcohol Policy on Your Boat

When we bought our first cruising boat, I never dreamed we’d have an alcohol policy. Eventually I came to see one as critical. Devising rules for drinking may keep you healthier and safer.

Our Early Experience With Alcohol Onboard

Our first several months cruising, we pretty much had the “vacation” and “it’s five o’clock somewhere” mentality when it came to alcohol. Dave and I both like beer. If someone stopped by after lunch, we’d offer one and have one ourselves.  Or maybe have one as we were figuring out some maintenance project. And so on.  Of course, the first one would taste good, and so we’d have a second…

But as the “vacation” aspect wore off, we realized that we needed to set some rules for ourselves.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not anti-drinking.  And I’m not saying anyone else has to have an alcohol policy — or if they do, what it should be.  I just thought I’d share what we did.

We found that we got lazy and maybe even sleepy if we had a beer with lunch. Many of our projects were incomplete, and we were only doing a fraction of the “fun stuff” we’d wanted to do while cruising, such as snorkeling, hiking, exploring towns, and so on. It was just so easy to sit in the cockpit with a beer in one hand, a book in the other, and maybe decide to take a nap.

And, frankly, we were getting a little bored with the lifestyle.  And we were probably boring to others.

Other Reasons for Limiting Alcohol on a Boat

The more fellow cruisers you meet, the more attitudes you’ll find about drinking onboard. Some boats are entirely dry, or allow guests to drink when they bring their own. Other cruisers can’t imagine not ending the day with a G&T or two. But most cruisers create guidelines for drinking. And not always for the same reasons.

Jennifer S. has chosen to restrict alcohol because of the link between cancer and regular alcohol use. Given the risk of skin cancer for sailors, it’s probably a smart idea.

Most cruisers cite safety concerns as a good reason to create an alcohol policy. Mary reminded us that an alcohol policy should consider returning to the boat from land. Returning to a boat drunk, whether you’re docked or at anchor, can be difficult to do fully sober.

The crew of s/v Dos Libros found they gained weight during their first few months cruising. That’s all it took to encourage them to set a new alcohol policy.

Our experience led us to create an alcohol policy that was a good fit for us.

Our Alcohol Policy

One evening (yeah, over beers), Dave and I talked about it.  We knew ourselves well enough to realize that just saying “we need to cut back” wasn’t going to work.  So we set three basic rules (the first two we’d already followed but had never really stated):

1. We would never drink underway or before we were both completely satisfied with how and where we were anchored.
2. We would never drink if bad weather seemed possible or likely (squalls, katabatic winds, tropical storms/hurricanes, etc.).
3. No drinking before 5 o’clock and no more than 3 drinks.

The first two stayed the same over the years, and were rigidly observed as safety rules.

Number three eventually became 6 o’clock and 2 drinks (generally a beer before dinner and a glass of wine later). When we were dealing with medical issues, we limited ourselves to one. . . . and even just one for a while as we were dealing with some medical issues.  Yes, we’d be better off if we limited ourselves to one drink all the time, but it’s unlikely to happen.

And, admittedly, the last one is the one that we do break sometimes — say when we’re invited to a friend’s birthday lunch or celebrating the completion of a really nasty 3-day repair job when it’s only 4:30.  And occasionally, we’ve been known to have a few extra drinks.

Is Cruising Less Fun?

When I’ve told some would-be cruisers about our alcohol policy, they wondered if it cut down on the fun of cruising. The answer is a resounding NO — it increased it.  We got out and did a lot more. We got up early and sailed to a new anchorage more often. We snorkeled a lot more. We hiked and explored.  I wrote, and Dave fished and worked on his own projects.  And we still had fun socializing.  We rarely “just sit around” in the middle of the day anymore. Read What Do You Do All Day?

Instead of saying “it’s five o’clock somewhere,” having to say “it’s five o’clock here” did wonders to cure our inertia. We also saved money, schlepped less heavy stuff from the store to the dinghy to the boat, and generated less trash.  Win-win-win-win!

Learning More

The first months or year of cruising is about more than learning about navigation, sailing, and engine repairs. This life has unwritten rules, rarely addressed in many cruising courses and articles. In How to Live on a Boat: Daily Life, Etiquette, & Systems for Liveaboards, I share what you need to know to make the learning curve less steep.

Knowledge brings its own high. So why not give it a chance?

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