I learned to sail when I was 21, my college roomate had a Sunfish and we would often go out on Lake Carrol in North Tampa and sail around. I enjoyed it, but had no interest in learning how. A Sunfish, by the way, is little more than a surfboard with one sail. It is the basic sailing vessel.

One windy day, he said "It's about time you learned how to do this." and slipped over the side and swam back home. I was in a lake, I couldn't really get in trouble, but for the next four hours I battled the boat and the wind. I was knocked down several times, and totally capsized once (the mast acutally dug into the lake bottom and I had to dismantle the boat, right it, and re-rig it again.) The wind blew me clear across the lake, about a mile, before I finally got the hang of it, and I had to tack all the way home. By the time I got back, I knew what I wanted to do the rest of my life.