Only real disaster I can think of was
sailing, we were supposed to be racing from Studland to Lulworth, which is a couple of hours sail. The idea was to stay at a hotel in Lulworth, then saunter back the next day.

Me and a friend were sailing a small catamaran. As we all set off, a bit of a storm blew up. Some chaos ensued, lots of people were getting seasick, waves were breaking over boats and it all got a bit dodgy looking.

Anyway, me and mate decided this was all a bit foolish, and went back to Studland, jumped in my car and drove the 20 miles to Lulworth.

Where every single other boat that had entered the race turned up. Yes, we were the only ones that had chickened out. We made our walk of shame to the car park next morning, as everyone else was rigging up.
(username failed moderation, Thu 19 Apr 2012, 14:13, 2 replies)

So you made the sensible choice, then

( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Thu 19 Apr 2012, 15:08, closed)

There was a writeup
in a local paper afterwards, where our decision was said to be 'wise and prudent'.

We knew though, and were reminded for some time afterwards by our delighted fellow sailors that our decision made us 'fucking lightweights'.

Actually, I didn't regret it at all. We weren't competing, we just went for the pissup at the hotel, which we got anyway.
(username failed moderation, Thu 19 Apr 2012, 16:05, closed)