My first boat is my current boat. Its a 46 foot hunter and prior to purchasing it I sailed 3 times on a friends 26 foot Mcgregor. The wife and I lived on it for two months before we got up the courage to pull away from the slip.
Armed with resonable youth and some book knoledge we headed out. On our third time out we went 30 miles across the San Pedro shipping lanes and arrived at Catalina Island at 1:00 am on a night with no moon to get a mooring for the first time ever.
One of the best things I have done is keep a list of all the things I have done wrong while learing to sail. Most of them make me smile when I think back on how stupid they were, the above story being high on the list.
I have raised the main with the electric
winch with the jiffy reefing
line securly blocked, and just this weekend I got a touch too close to the wind generator.
We have gone to Catalina almost every weekend in the last two year and are still alive and the boat is still afloat. Lots of luck I guess.
Let me learn from a few of your mistakes so I dont have to make them all myself. Lets hear of some of the things you have done wrong.