KathyA

I didn't really have any experience when Mobunny and I rented a Hobie Cat the first time we went in March '03. I told Chris that I sailed along time ago and knew the basics of sailing but had never sailed a Hobie Cat. He took me out to show how the boat worked and charged (at $75 per hour)me for the time it took to teach me the basics, which came to around $20. This took about ten to fifteen minutes. If you just want to piddle up and down the shore that's all it takes. You should familiarize yourself with basic sailing concepts (i.e. tacking wind direction etc...). Sailing in AC is pretty easy because the wind direction is always towards the shore which means you don't have to sail into the wind to get back to where you started (i.e. zig-zaging-tacking back and forth). It's pretty easy if you're a quick learner but you do have to know how the boat works in case it flips over (which is hard to do), how to turn around etc... Take lots of sunscreen and have fun it is well worth it, especially if you figure out how to dock at various watering holes. Good luck.