Chickened-out at Happy Hollow / RC limit at HMB

I had to bail out many times when alpine climibing but the objective hazards are more clear there so the decision is easier. One can see the route and figure out what impact weather will have. It was usually weather that made us bail out--the variable and dynamic element of the sport. Same here.

Judging surf is more difficult because it can change in unforseen ways and with the tidal level. Also one of the challenges in potentially risky outdoor sports is that neophytes don't know what they don't know (as awkward a phase as that is). I saw a plot of experience and frequency of accidents once though I cannot remember if it was climbing or kayaking. The curve was shaped like the letter 'U'--the highest frequency of accidents is amongst the neophyte and the very experienced: the neophytes don't know enough to stay out of trouble and the very experienced become overly confident start taking bigger risks. I once had a BCU coach tell me something I have subsequently heard elsewhere: "One gains good judgment through exprerience and gains experience through bad judgment--the key is to live through it to benefit from it".

One last comment, a real man is the one who thinks about his familial duty and their need of him and has the strength to put them first ahead of ego. As we always said in mountaineering: "the mountain will still be there next time--make sure you will be too".