Probably I misunderstood what the captain was saying, as it was my first year in the US and my English was bad (still is ), I could comprehend about two thirds of what he was saying. But thats how I remember it: when he was younger (20-30 years prior, in the 80s) he was a crew member on a large fishing vessel when they got caught in a storm with winds upto 120 (knots i guess). If true it would give most quite a "leemer" (I had to look this word up). Anyhow, its been a while, my memory could be failing me. Yeah, those big fish totes were never secured. Actually I never seen them sliding around the deck other than on that storm occasion. Thats probably was the thinking of the man I was working for, why bother At least half of the guys I met at the dock back then would fit this description. Friend of mine who worked on another boat, told me, in the morning they would go like 50 miles into ocean, but then one of the guys would remember: "Hey Mike, we forgot weed!", then they would go all the way back just to pickup weed. And they were stoned every single day. What were the longest, or perhaps more memorable ones? If you dont mind of course.
Well... he might have been a little drunk or stoned at the time and misremembered the actual numbers. Working vessels aren't exactly the most seaworthy things in the world - they can't be, since they're of necessity top-heavy with too much gear and stowage. The people who build them also can't make the design compromises that blue-water cruising boats do (comfort/open spaces/high-up stowage/relatively inexpensive construction for safety/stability/strength/seaworthiness) - and I'd be willing to bet that 99%+ of them would founder in an actual storm that powerful. Yep - that's pretty standard. But notice that it strongly implies the thought pattern of "if it gets bad, we'll just leave." That would be... approximately 100% of all the shrimpers I knew in FL. Maybe 90% of the New York fishing fleet, too (damn, I miss my buddy Richie there.) I'm afraid I just don't have that much time right now - but for memorable, a number of my fall passages along the East coast come to mind, as does my first long Pacific sail off the California coast. So does a certain wonderful slow, ambling passage through the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. Damn, I miss the sea. I have standing invitations from lots of racing skippers around NYC - seems I bring "good luck" to any boat where I'm the tactician - but it's not the same thing.
@BlueWaterSailor I hope to buy a yacht one day. Being at open sea just makes me calm and happy. Fair winds mate. Both in sailing and trading!