I've been having much the same dialogue with myself over this that I used to
have with aviation accident reports.

"He didn't do this thing he should have done."

"Heck, I'm know enough to do that."

"He did this thing he shouldn't have done."

"Heck, I know enough not to do that."

Then, I realize, so was he, in both cases and would probably be saying the
same thing if he was reading the report about someone else. More aviation
accidents happen like this, something causing the pilot's decision making to
dip far below his own normal, than happen because the pilot was simply in
over his head. The proportions are probably different on the water because
there are no regulations against taking a boat out bonehead stupid but Skip
certainly doesn't fit into that category. If there were yacht licensing
requirements, he could probably meet them easily. These things happen to
competent pilots and competent boaters. It's the reasons why we should be
thinking about and not tactical strategy for making difficult harbor
entrances.

It's not exactly on point but my long supressed memory of the closest I ever
came to losing a boat just came to mind.

My wife and I chartered the largest boat I had ever been in command of and
took a week long cruise with a couple who had never been on a boat before.
It was fun but a little stressful for me. A couple months later, we
chartered the same boat with another couple the wife half of which had grown
up in Marblehead sailing all her life. It was fun having someone on board
who could do everything well without instruction.

I gave her the wheel out in Penobscot Bay. It was October, few boats
around, wide open water, shore far away. I told her, "Keep her full and
by.", and went down to make lunch.

I looked up a while later from my cooking to see a large buoy passing very
close along side. It was also definitely the wrong color for the way we
were going. I reached the helm without my feet touching a single
companionway step and put the boat about seconds before we would have hit
the ledge.

She had just started bearing off bit by bit. The more she bore off, the
more the boat heeled and the faster it felt to her. The 20 - 30 degree
course change simply didn't register. She saw the buoy and figured, Roger
set the course, he knows what he's doing, it must be all right. It had been
about 20 years since she sailed a boat.

I would have been pretty hard to explain how I hit that well marked rock
that was just about the only thing within five miles that could have hurt
the boat.

--
Roger Long