My dad is an avid sailor, with a lake-sailing boat in the backyard (Flying Scot) who invites me to multi-day trips on the North Carolina coast on a cruiser he rents. This means I get to sail without ever really having to take care / pay for the boat.
There are three experiences on a sea-going sailboat that I particularly like:
a) Not quite being in control. You can set your sails to carry you any which way, but the wind and seas will only allow so much. You have to cooperate, but you do have quite a bit more control than a layperson might think.
b) Being "alone". Sailing on the open seas (or even within a particularly big bay or sound) means all you can see around you is water. Even if you're sailing with a crew, the disconnect from the outer world feels even more intense than going camping or some other disconnection from civilization.
c) Having to stick through foul weather. The first time you find yourself 5 hours from shore when it's raining and the seas are rough (not rough enough for small craft advisory, though) you realize there is no possible way to bypass those 5 hours; you just have to sail through it. The things that normally bother you just do not matter when you are completely drenched and trying to keep the waves from bashing you off course enough to lose the wind and get forced into an unplanned tack/jibe.
There are three experiences on a sea-going sailboat that I particularly like:
a) Not quite being in control. You can set your sails to carry you any which way, but the wind and seas will only allow so much. You have to cooperate, but you do have quite a bit more control than a layperson might think.
b) Being "alone". Sailing on the open seas (or even within a particularly big bay or sound) means all you can see around you is water. Even if you're sailing with a crew, the disconnect from the outer world feels even more intense than going camping or some other disconnection from civilization.
c) Having to stick through foul weather. The first time you find yourself 5 hours from shore when it's raining and the seas are rough (not rough enough for small craft advisory, though) you realize there is no possible way to bypass those 5 hours; you just have to sail through it. The things that normally bother you just do not matter when you are completely drenched and trying to keep the waves from bashing you off course enough to lose the wind and get forced into an unplanned tack/jibe.