I had some brief sailing instruction from my dad when I was about 13. 6 years ago (when I was 28) my brother acquired a Hobie 16 through a trade and he asked me to go out on it where he lived on Folly Beach, SC (he thought that I knew what I was doing). I was sooooo lost but not wanting to let my younger brother down, I put on a good face and was pleasantly relieved that I could figure out how to get from point A to point B....and BACK. Down at Folly Beach we went about a mile away from shore and it felt like we had gone to the moon and neither of us wanted to go much further. And now?....oh the difference.