But the RYA did acknowledge there could be a case for covering certain harbour, beach or river areas where alcohol bylaws have been existence for many years and where drunken navigation may be a problem.

The RYA says the bill, published in January, appears to have taken some of these concerns into account.

While private craft are included in the bill's remit, non-professional masters will only be subject to testing while a vessel is "under way".

The shipping minister has yet to add details such as what size or power of craft will be affected and in what locations.

Edmund Whelan, head of legal and government affairs at the RYA said: "While the RYA strongly deprecates the abuse of alcohol afloat, government figures tell us that 90% of our adult population enjoys alcohol and, in our view, regulations affecting all private craft in all locations would have been unacceptable."

Although the details of the regulations have yet to be discussed, said Whelan, we are pleased that the government has taken our concerns on board. We were particularly worried that the skippers of craft safely moored or anchored could be summoned on deck and breath-tested arbitrarily and that craft on passage well offshore could be boarded by police or other officials for the same reason.

The RYA says exclusion of craft not under way is welcome, as is the opportunity of putting its case that only certain sizes or power of craft in the "hot spots" of harbours, beach areas and rivers need to be included in the regulations.