If the captain actually thought he could not make the flight safely, great job for walking away from it. Now if the captain, can't pull off a two hour leg without autopilot, maybe it's time for a little self assessment. The CRJ is about as easy as it gets when it comes to hand flying. Was the problem a lack of background, proficiency, recency, fatigue? Who knows, but it's a pretty sad day when an AIRLINE PILOT can't FLY an aircraft for more than a few seconds after take-off and the last couple on landing.