...when I was being groomed as a feature writer for a prominent sailing magazine, I was given an assignment by my mentor (a very well-respected writer in the field) to write a review of safety equipment designed for use on blue-water yachts. These included such items as safety harnesses, carabiners and quick-release shackles, life vests and other flotation devices, man-overboard buoys, foulies and the like.

I refused, saying that I had no expertise in the use or construction of this sort of equipment. I felt my specialty was navigation, particularly traditional navigational techniques and devices, and that I was fundamentally unqualified to give advice on or evaluate safety gear. I was terrified that my uneducated opinions might lead (by commission or omission) to someone's death or injury.

I was never asked to contribute to that publication again.