BoatUS.com - Seaworthy Magazine

Drinking and Drowning
People Who Have Been Drinking Should Stay Out of the Water
by Bob Adriance

Photo: Jacob L. Enos

After a few drinks at a popular Florida resort, a group of friends climbs aboard a boat for a moonlight tour of the harbor. About midnight, despite a 20-knot wind and choppy seas, the group decides to go swimming. The engine is shut down and the boat is allowed to drift in a channel that's about 200 yards from a deserted island. As soon as they enter the water, the wind begins sweeping the boat away from the swimmers. The engine is started and the boat is backed-up in the direction of the swimmers. One by one, members of the party climb aboard but a 40-year-old woman is missing.

Since the woman had not alerted any of the other swimmers that she was having trouble (see "Silent Plea For Help," below) most aboard remain optimistic. But despite a frantic search, the woman is never seen again. (Claim #0438323A.)

Experienced skippers should quickly recognize the obvious risks that were taken that night: the decision to go boating in the dark after drinking; the decision to go in the water in those conditions; and the foolish way the boat was backed down toward the swimmers. But risks that are obvious to most people were lost to those aboard the boat that night. It's no secret that alcohol often causes people to take foolish risks while at the same time inhibiting their ability to think quickly and cope in critical situations.

What many people don't realize, however, is the extraordinary number of drownings that involve alcohol. Approximately 70 percent of all boating deaths are the result of drowning, according to the Coast Guard. And while estimates vary, studies have shown that alcohol may have been a factor in about half of all adult drowning deaths. Some studies put the figure as high as 70%. Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death among adults 20 - 44 years old.

Obviously, anyone who is dead drunk is going to have trouble swimming. But many of the people who drown were not legally drunk and researchers have discovered several reasons why even moderate amounts of alcohol may affect a person's ability in the water.

In the case above, the victim was a good swimmer in good health. She probably had considerably less to drink than some of the others on the boat. Her dinner, according to police interviews with her peers, consisted of a salad and two glasses of white wine. A combination of alcohol, too few carbohydrates, and exercise (swimming) meant that she ran the risk of developing hypoglycemia, which is a drastic reduction of a person's blood glucose levels. Hypoglycemia causes sudden weakness, confusion, and affects the body's normal temperature-regulating mechanisms. Medical researchers warn that alcohol and aquatic exercise, without taking carbohydrates, represents a "foolish confrontation with death."

Not all swimmers enter the water voluntarily. At least 25 percent of all drownings are caused by falls overboard, according to Coast Guard statistics. Boats are inherently unstable anyway, and when someone has been drinking the tendency to fall overboard is increased that much more.

The Coast Guard conducted tests to document the affects of environmental stressors--sun, wind, wave motion, glare, and vibration--on a boat operators reaction time and error rate. What they found was that these stressors produce a kind of boater's hypnosis, a fatigue that reduced the operator's performance much as alcohol would. But when operators were both intoxicated and exposed to environmental stressors, they missed ten times as many cues as operators who were merely exposed to environmental stressors.

Environmental stressors and alcohol can combine to cause many boating accidents, including falls overboard. Both stressors and alcohol were probably factors in a claim involving a young skipper and the accidental drowning of his friend. After spending most of the day sunning, sailing, and drinking beer on his small powerboat, the man stumbled and fell into the chilly New England waters. He was unable to climb back aboard and tried to swim ashore. The skipper dove overboard and tried unsuccessfully to reach his friend with a life vest. The skipper survived. His friend's body was recovered two weeks later. (Claim #9242617.)

Hypothermia may also have been a factor in this case. Hypothermia causes swimmers to become sluggish in water as warm as 60 degrees. Alcohol inhibits the body's signaling system so that swimmers don't realize how cold they've become. Although it is rarely listed as the cause of death, researchers believe hypothermia is a contributing factor in as many as half of all drowning deaths.

Disoriented Swimmers

Besides hypoglycemia and hypothermia, there are other ways that alcohol effects someone in the water. Sudden cooling of the skin can cause caloric labyrinthitis and/or hyperventilation, which may have contributed to the drowning death of swimmer on a balmy Spring day on the Potomac River. The victim (an experienced swimmer) had been talking and drinking beer aboard an anchored boat in a quiet cove when, perhaps to cool off, he suddenly jumped in the water. He was never seen again. (Claim #032487A.)

Caloric labyrinthitis, an inner ear disturbance associated with sudden temperature drop, causes someone to become disoriented and explains why swimmers may sometimes swim down instead of up. Researcher believe that alcohol may increase the chances of caloric labyrinthitis as well as hyperventilation. Hyperventilation can cause someone to gasp and "breath in" water.

Many drowning victims are strong swimmers. A professional diver hired to retrieve a fishing rod drowned after only a few minutes in the water. An autopsy disclosed a high blood/alcohol content. While it can never be known exactly why he drowned, investigators had little doubt that alcohol was a major factor. (Claim #962509A.)

There is still a great deal that is not known about alcohol and drowning. At Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Gordon Smith, who is doing research on drowning deaths, says that he hears a lot of stories about people who are swimming and then suddenly disappear. He believes that drinking is a "major, major factor" in over half of these drowning deaths. Smith is concerned because alcohol is still promoted around the water. People who have been drinking should stay out of the water.

Drowning Victims: Their Silent Plea For Help

Many people drown within easy reach of other swimmers. Children have drowned within a few feet of their parents. "She was splashing and playing and then suddenly she was gone" was the way one parent described the last few seconds of his daughter's life. "She never called for help."

Recognizing drowning behavior is especially important because researchers have found that someone drowning lacks the lung capacity to call for help. Drowning victims act instinctively, moving his or her arms as though climbing a ladder, taking quick gulps of air, and then slipping back underwater. With an adult, this reflexive behavior lasts about 60 seconds before the victim sinks underwater for good. A child will last only for about 20 seconds. The struggle is quiet, and often looks "playful."

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Bob Adriance is Editor of Seaworthy, the BoatUS Marine Insurance damage-avoidance publication.
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