Impaired boating, alcohol aboard, speed near shore and wake

Doug is fifty-five. It's a hot Saturday, and he's anchored off an island in his day boat, an open runabout with seats and a cooler full of beer. He's had two. His wife wants to head home. Doug says, one more, then I'll drive us back. We're anchored, so it doesn't count yet.

So here's the question. Can Doug drink at anchor? And does being anchored mean the drinking and driving rules haven't started? A quick note first. This lecture is general information, not legal advice.

Start with the Criminal Code. Impaired boating is the same offence as impaired driving. The law covers boats, and operating includes having care or control, so it can apply at anchor. It's an offence to be impaired to any degree, or to have eighty milligrams of alcohol or more in a hundred millilitres of blood within two hours of operating. A first offence carries a minimum fine of one thousand dollars.

Transport Canada adds that the penalties can include bans on boating and on driving, seizure of the boat, and jail. The same Criminal Code rules cover drugs.

Now Ontario's liquor rules. While your boat is moving, any alcohol aboard must be sealed and unopened, or stored in a closed compartment. You may drink aboard only when all three of these are true. The boat has permanent sleeping, cooking and toilet facilities. It's anchored, or tied to a dock or shore. And it isn't carrying passengers for hire. A day boat like Doug's never qualifies.

Next, speed. Under the Vessel Operation Restriction Regulations, on Ontario waters you may not go faster than ten kilometres an hour within thirty metres of shore, sign or no sign, and that includes electric boats. The exceptions are towing a skier straight out from shore, and buoyed channels, canals, and rivers under a hundred metres wide, plus waters that have their own limit.

And your wake. Transport Canada's guide says you're responsible for any damage or harm your wake causes, to other boats, docks and the shoreline. The Small Vessel Regulations forbid careless operation, including operating without reasonable consideration for other people. Transport Canada's guide lists a fine of three hundred and fifty dollars for it.

On the water. On a busy summer weekend on the river, I plan for the cooler before we leave the dock. Whoever's running the boat gets water and pop. The beer stays sealed, in a closed compartment, until we're home and off the water. And near the cottages, I throttle down early. Thirty metres is only about a hundred feet, and it comes up fast.

Let's change one fact. Doug's friend anchors beside him in a cruiser with a permanent berth, a galley and a toilet. At anchor, that boat meets Ontario's test, so drinking aboard is allowed. But the Criminal Code doesn't change. An impaired person can't have care or control of that boat, so someone sober is in charge, and that person drives it home.

The mistake boaters make is thinking the water is looser than the road. It isn't. It's the same Criminal Code offence, and a conviction can cost you your right to drive a car as well.

Here's the rule, in one breath. The driver doesn't drink, alcohol stays sealed or stowed while you're moving, ten kilometres an hour within thirty metres of shore, and you own your wake.

This week, agree on a no-drinking plan for whoever runs your boat, and on your usual route, spot where thirty metres from shore falls. Next time, keeping the water clean, from sewage and fuel to the hitchhikers on your trailer.