My mind works a little different. I have a background in a hi voltage electrical field background (hands on not a behind the desk type). Been a safety advisor, and went kinda off the norm. Some will for sure disagree with my theory and yep I expect the what learned from my failure stuff but I do not learn from that as I already know how to fail.. In the field I was in for a living there was no second chance.
I do not want to know why you or your equipment failed, I only look at why you or your stuff did not fail.
I would rather learn from a survivor then a forensic report.
So with that over, what worked for you, food, sleeping, planning, etc. No almost if I changed this or that, just what worked 100 percent or at least what you would be happy with all the time ok.
My boat choice 100 %, my paddling partner way an above the fun meter, my food choice ok, my sleeping stuff no problem, I was comfy, fed, and slept some, with someone I could laugh with at the stupid stuff we did while doing it. (some seen my lights so maybe later I will post where I get them.) we had no problem lighting up the markers at night in Florida Bay.
We finished with an adventure not an ordeal and with laughs at each other. Oh yea we screwed up, made wrong decisions, got bug bit, wanted a steak, and even seen weird stuff that was not there, all the normal stuff that makes a watertribe event so neat. We also seen gators, crocks, sea cows, cool plants, neat birds, and a few things that do not exist. Ya just have to be aware of your suroundings and learn to look.
What else is there? So what worked for you?
toby