[boeman]

Alyse, you need to hook up with someone near you who sails, so you can get a taste of it, then search until you can find someone who will let you crew/observe in an actual race. You would get a sense of the whole thing that no amount of interviewing and researching would yield. Plus you might like it so much you''d have to do more - and your name would look great on the stern of a sailboat.