Everything that keeps the day safe was decided back at the dock.

Offshore is a logistics exercise that happens to end in fish. Fuel, ice, bait, safety gear, radio, weather window, and a crew that knows what it is doing. Twenty miles out there is no store and no shoulder to pull onto.

That forces a habit most people never build on land, which is solving the problem before you leave. Out there you rarely get to fix things while they are happening, because the environment gets a vote and it is bigger than you.

It also taught me that having a backup is not waste. Two ways to navigate, two ways to talk to somebody, more fuel than the plan needs. All of it looks like overkill right up until the day it is the reason the trip ended fine.