Fox,
I promise. I'll stop nagging after this but, go sailing.

I grew up canoing Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. I paddled and camped all through high school and college. My other boat is a 16 foot, 1932, Old Town, model HW, wood and canvas canoe. I understand how sailing looks from that perspective. And my perspective changed drastically after 6 months of sailing. The problem is that those 6 months didn't occur until the second year I owned the boat because I spent too much time the first year fixing things that didn't really need to be fixed. Then I found out some of the fixes weren't going to help me sail the way I found out I wanted to. A lot of the boat renovation stories on this board are coming from people who have sailed all their lives. For those of us who haven't its more important to get out in the wind than make the boat perfect.

Make it safe. Go sailing.
I'll shut up now.