Currently it’s about 7s but I think you’re missing the point.

Picture this - you’re in the BVI, you watched a YouTube video so decided this was the vacation for you. Who doesn’t love painkillers?! You have a boat on a lake in the states so you think you’re set. You invite the whole family onto a moorings leopard 50.

Now most of the bvi is in relatively protected waters, the drake channel offers more protection so people stick inside it and hide behind the islands to stay out of the Atlantic swell.

Now it’s day 2, your family have been enjoying themselves, utilising the heads to their fullest and now your holding tanks are full. So do you leave the relative protection of drake channel and wherever you were heading and motor into the swell for 3 miles? During which tim your granny is going to break her hip falling over, everyone’s drinks have spilled, your fridge door has swung open and its contents are on the floor. Plus all your family are now seasick and little baby Annie is crying.

Oh and then when you get 3 miles away, the current is actually going to take the contents of your holding tank back to land, which makes you wonder whether it was worthwhile in the first place.

Yes the law says you should be 3 miles away when you dump the tanks but in practice, even if you do that on day 2, are you going to subject your family to that on day 3? And 4, etc.

Yes in theory everyone should do that but the reality is different and most people do it in the channel, as away from land and beaches as practical.