Thank you Charles and Rick B spot on.
Whilst I am not a professional mariner I am a highly experienced professional aviator and I can testify to the same disconnect in our industry between amateur and pros. I am also a subscriber to gCaptain.
There are a couple of aviation type sayings we have which I'm sure apply equally to the sea.
"It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground."
" Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous, but like the sea, is totally unforgiving of any carelessness, incompetence or neglect".
Weather (and fuel) is what we fret most about and treat with the greatest respect. Yes a professional can venture where amateurs may not, but the level at which this may occur is based on a great deal of experience and never ever without a clearly defined and planned get out of jail card ( and the fuel to go with it) in the shirt pocket.
The discipline to bail when it starts to go outside preselected parameters is what you need. At 450-500kts it can turn nasty very quickly, but it's all relative.
The problem we have is that I guess like boating/shipping we all have our individual limits and knowing where that is is the hard part.
Knowing what you don't know is the trick.
I would venture that like aviation the depth of understanding and knowledge of matters weather is not universally at the standard, professional or amateur that we imagine.
Flying is just like sailing, hours and hours of boredom interspersed with the odd moment of abject terror.
Unfortunately ego rears up and looking back and being fortunate/lucky to have survived 40 years without a fatal fright, it is clear that I have got away with some frights that I would now recognse as some truly dumb things.
Oh and.
"There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are very few old bold pilots."