It's also a teacher. And the lessons can be difficult, cruel and unfair, but the strong and the smart. They survive. The strongest can even thrive among crashing waves and stormy skies.
It is a constant tilting of the scales between life and death, and sometimes no matter how prepared and powerful one is, the waters will claim them. That is a risk I have accepted, and every time we set sail every soul on my ship knows the risks. Even so. Even with all the threats and dangers, the call of open air and sea birds hails us onward.