" I had a data-base of experience to help me pull something out of the bag, but what is more important, I knew that I could perform under those conditions. I was not special, but just had some years of experience to fall back on."
Experience cannot be teached, like Loose Rivets says, it is going to help you pull you through difficult situations, it gives you a certain confidence and calm as you "have seen this before" and know what will happen next.
Having had more then a few interesting events myself, the more that has happened, the less it made my heart beat faster.
Having said that, when I was doing a assesment of prospective captains, I wasn't counting the hours. Not only that hours total doesn't always match experience(long haul 12 landings per year versus shorthaul 4 flights a day), but character, maturity, attitude and knowledge and CRM is what counts. The total time was very often only the trigger to have a look at the person to see if he or she was ready.