It can often feel that there is no time to think things through under pressure. Every time you guess without taking the time to think through the next steps, you have a 50% chance of hopefully making the right decision. You also have a 50% chance of making the wrong decision.

One wrong decision can have a knock-on effect quite rapidly at times. Always try to take the time to think steps through and find a way to stabilise a situation, so these things are not getting worse. This will hopefully allow you some time to come up with a plan and brief your crew on what is required of them.

This is a major benefit of training so that you gradually increase the number of experiences you have skippered and the equipment you have used. It will help you to grow a collection of transferable skills that you can draw on during an emergency at sea. Hopefully, these experiences help you avoid even finding yourself in an emergency at sea.