Comments by "buddermonger2000" (@buddermonger2000) on "Ancient Americas"
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@joeneil5485 As evidenced by another comment, they kept reliable maps and recorded discoveries while also keeping in contact with the others. This indicates it's not necessarily the pressures you indicted motivating this exploration, but instead the buildup of all of the techniques acquired allowing them to do it without undue risk.
Go out in a canoe into the ocean and you'll see the results for yourself. For example, no-one was so stupid to simply go west randomly from Europe or Africa because no-one had the technology to even attempt to go so far west. It was only with an idiot who got some calculations wrong, along with a country who was seeking some prestige and with the coffers full, along finally with the technology to justify that long (though wrongly attested length) of journey that they even tried, in order to get to a place that recently had its trade access to it blocked off by a rival power across the Mediterranean.
In that same vein, clearly with understanding of the avian migration patterns, the cloud formation, and the maritime skills to be able to undertake that journey and know how to come back if it didn't work, that provided good incentive to take the risk of finding a new island even if only due to prestige seeking.
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