[sunset on the dock]

Originally Posted by elchase

Sunset,
I'm finally starting to understand the argument about drinking as an excuse for speeding. It's not a question of danger, its a question of blame. You see, if you are drunk, then you aren't really responsible for what you do. So if you fly around in your boat while drunk and run over another boat and kill someone, or run your boat up onto their shore front and kill one of your passengers, it's obviously dangerous, but is not really your fault. The fault then falls to the manufacturer of your GPS or the owner of the hotel next to the place where you got drunk, unless the hotel is on the list of businesses that did not support the speed limit. The logic is tough to understand at first, but if you have a few drinks in you it all starts to make sense.
We've all heard over and over again in these threads how it was really the owner of Church Landing who is at fault for Mr. Hartman's death because he leased to the restaurant who hired the bartender who served Mr. Littlefield some of his drinks, and because Church Landing is on the list of businesses that supported the speed limit. But Naswa is ok to liquor up its boating patrons all day long, and the Wolfetrap is never held to account for over serving boaters, because these businesses opposed the speed limit. Get it? Church Landing killed Mr. Hartman, but Wolfetrap did not kill Ms. Beaudoin. Confused? Just have another drink before you try to make sense of all this.

EL,
Now I'm really getting confused. Airwaves says your Florida example has no relevance in part because boater education has now made boating safer but what if a boater on Lake Winnipesaukee who may have been drinking is also a graduate of a boater safety course (think Erica Blizzard)? Does that mean that boater safety courses are irrelevant because drunks may forget what they learned in the course? And what if they borrowed the boat without permission and are the graduates of such a course and do they teach you in the course that you shouldn't take out someone's boat without permission? But are you less responsable for taking the boat if you've been drinking? How about if the bartender who served excessive amounts of alcohol is also a graduate of a boater education course? Does that make it better or worse? What if the bartender is for or against the SL? What if the bartender is from another state like Florida, then does it negate the whole argument? Please get back to me with the answers before next summer.