There will be plenty of time after the facts come in to constructively learn from this unfortunate situation, until then we are mostly speculating. The constructive thing we can do right now is review solid safety and risk assessment protocol. We all make a lot of bad decisions and are fortunate enough not have to pay the debt more often than not. The one thing we can do is to try to reduce the number of bad decisions we make and improve our ability to recognize bad decisions. The link provided by Paul is very good. One thing I always go back to at least a few times a year is the chapter on safety in "Mountaineering The Freedom Of The Hills". The sections on Risk, and Decision-Making Strategies are very good and universal to all outdoor pursuits. I plan to read it right now.
Scott

": Fellow mariners,
: Slightly more off this topic making it slightly less off topic for
: us ??
: For the decision making process it is crucial in asking the obvious
: "what could go wrong" and providing a contingency plan
: for this.This question is often furthest from our minds
: especially when on our sunny shores.
: We have noticed that poor serial decisions accumulate risks and
: consequences,each decision in it's self not too bad.We can and
: do use the three lemons in a row analogy[look up kask.org.nz
: They don't muck around without doing risk analysis]. The first
: bad decision can often be undone when pride,risk denial or new
: information is exposed.The second bad decision digs your bad
: position in deeper but usually there is still an opportunity to
: reverse out of it.The third bad decision usually to persevere
: with the litany of mistakes is the one that will seal your fate
: and we see this to be the case time and time again. Learn to
: recognize the lemons and then keep a count ,it's worth it....
: Cheers from Paul nz.