EDITED ( added my "Crow".) PS: 90 day wonder? I was in the Navy for about 90 days when I got promoted to Third Class Petty Officer, (Quartermaster Third Class, to be precise). I had trained myself with correpondence courses and by volunteering on my own time to get my Practical Factors signed off (On-the-Job- Training). I only had 10 months experience on the bridge when I left the Navy, so I certainly was not an "expert". But I knew the day I started standing watches the proper procedure for planning and executing what should have been a routine deviation from a planned course. Unless I have been misled by not having all the facts, what it looks like is that this guy was really reckless, or totally negligent. Mere incompetence can't explain this accident.

Even navigating a small sailboat, you know to glance at the chart and make sure a course change won't send you into the rocks. And if you're not sure about the rocks, you stand well offshore, just in case.