Breathalyzers for yacht owners

I once had the misfortune to assist with the delivery of a 40m motor yacht to Cyprus. Operating with a reduced crew, the skipper and I were doing 6 hours on / 6 hours off. Unfortunetly, we also experienced failure of the single autopilot. At least his second was a deckie who could relieve him adequately from the task of hand-steering. I had the ch. engineer, who as I found out later was not able to diagnose a very simple and easily-repairable fault (resulting in the autopilot failure), but was also dozing in his cabin all the time he should have been up on the bridge and relieving me when not in the engine room.

To cap it all, on the final leg approaching Cyprus, the delivery skipper (who unknown to us had a penchant for French red wine), could not be roused until 2 hours after he was supposed to have taken over...

That was a very long time ago, but most recently we even had a 100m + yacht which somehow managed to ground herself, spilling fuel into the bay of Cannes in broad light of day this very summer.

Having said all that, I have to admit that I'm often probably "over the limit" when contributing to this forum. It's a form of relaxation. I can be myself, let it all hang out. Using a computer whilst under the influence "UCUI" is not yet a crime surely...?!

I would love to know what realy happend with that 100 meter yacht in Cannes as i have heard 101 stories.

Yes, wouldn't we all like to know what really happened...?!

I've come across lots of rumours and suggestions, none of which could probably be repeated here on a public forum. Carl is not rich enough to take that risk...

In another sense, it's a shame that the yachting industry does not yet have the equivalent of aviation's own Rumours & News forum. Where conjecture is the norm. With apparently little consequence to the forum owner and/or participants. Members include highly-qualified legal professionals, ready to intervene and offer advice in the more delicate situations apparently...?!

When a yacht runs aground, hits a quay, catches fire or sinks, rarely is there an official in-depth (pun intended) investigation into the causes behind it. I guess it'd be different if there were only half a dozen yacht builders who supplied 95% of the market like in civil aviation. Since yachts rarely carry more than 12 passengers, the number of lives at risk is limited so I guess that has an effect too.

However, there is one aspect of aviation safety that could perhaps usefully be applied to yachting: that is CRM or Cockpit Resource Management - we'd have to call it Bridge Resource Management. In very simplistic terms, this would involve both the command "piloting and navigating" procedures generally-used on a particular yacht, as well as elements of the interraction between the skipper, other officers and the general crew.

As a passenger aboard a B737-400, you'd expect that in the event of any incapacitation of the commander, the co-pilot would be able to immediately and safely take over. Yet, on your average 50m yacht, the 1st officer has probably never manoeuvered the vessel for say, entering into a berth. You might say "that's not important, all you risk are a few dents in the paintwork", but I would suggest that the yachts which operate this way (and they are in the majority) risk systematic "demotion" of any input from other senior crew "in an emergency".

In some cases, a younger 1st officer, knowing all the prevailing circumstances, might therefore easily avoid any crisis by simply addressing his superior quietly: "You don't look very well, would you mind if I do this one...?!" Or maybe that's just wishfull thinking...