Anytime I am sailing offshore and my bow is pointed toward land, I get... well, "terrified" is way too strong a word, but "tense" certainly fits, even if is still 10 or 15 miles away. Sailboats are rarely lost at sea. As long as we keep the water on the outside, we are pretty much like corks floating on the surface no matter how rough it gets. It when we get anywhere near the hard bits around the edges of the water that bad things happen.

The other day, we were coming in during the wee hours, had to slip past the Farallons and sidle up to the ship channel into SF bay. It was foggy, the radar was out and there were 5 or 6 freighters and a pilot boat showing on the AIS. Add in the fatigue that builds up on a passage and the pucker factor was definitely there. When a small fishing boat suddenly appeared out of the fog on a reciprocal course (he didn't show up on the AIS), I felt like peeing in my foulies.