I wonder if he actually thought he could outrun the brunt of the storm (which seems to be the likeliest non-tinfoil explanation)? They must have the latest WX and WX radar aboard those ships. I wonder if like people with GPS in their cars, he gave too much allowance to the precision of current and predictive WX, and just cut things too close?
Or worse, was encouraged to cut things too close by the company in the name of time and $$$.