I never sailed before. Me and 2 buddies got a 26ish foot sailboat cheep. Read a little on the internet. Raised the mast (hardest part) and dropped it in the lake. Lowered the keel, one guy towed us out with a jetski (we had no outboard). Within an hour, our drunk asses were sailing around the lake.. Tacking into the wind wasn't even hard. Really enjoyable boating. Wish we'd been on a bigger lake tho, but in West Texas you take what you get. ****-ton of fun. We painted a name on the stern just cuz. 'Mahogany and Leather Bound Books'... Yep, we drank a lot..