taking off with a very low angle of attack
This doesn't make any sense. Low angle of attack is achieved at high speed. Take off would normally be at a high angle of attack. Anyway, did you have an angle of attack readout in your seat?
nowing that if he had to abort and it all went wrong the sea was a better option than the mountains...
suppose it was a calculated 'risk'
Airline pilots just don't work like this. They would have consulted the performance charts and if the data says they could get airborne off that runway with a tailwind then that's what they did. I have requested a tailwind take off before when the only other option was to offload passengers and take off into wind on a runway which was more limiting due to obstacles in the climb out path.