Do you first want to try how it feels holding the steer of a yacht in your hands? You can enjoy that experience at different sites at the Baltic Sea and in Potsdam with a skipper. As well you can join a longer sailing cruise.

When you have decided learning to sail yourself at first you dont need a big yacht. Best you can learn sailing with a small boat at a lake. The lake has not to be big. With the course of a small triangel you can easily train all maneuvers. The forces there are not so strong as at sea. You can hold the sheet in your hand, sence the force of the wind and feel how the boat reacts.

Look for a good sailing school. As more intensivly you can learn in a small group as more quickly you will understand the boat. A sailing teacher with one or two students brings quicker success than a teacher that has to move back and forth between 6 jolles or 8 jolles and can give you a word advice from a distance.

To understand how a boat reacts it doesn´t matter to get your teeth into some theoretical aspects of sailing. Which forces operate in a sail? Why the wind that comes diagonal at the front can drive a boat?

Lifelike navigation and sailing patter their own language. Now to the left is portside and to the right is starboard. The helm is not back but at the stern. The boat goes portside when you move the helm starboard. What is to veer? If those does confuse you at the beginning there fortunately are some mnemonic rhymes.

Now it is time to go aboard. Do not be confused of the variety of ropes. If at the beginning you only learn to handle jib sheet and helm you can drive every maneuver and return to the mooring.

Once you rather control mainsail and forsesail and return without help you want to get routine and sense the boat. Now you have to train. Everybody learns differently. Basically it´s like driving a car. Do you learn driving when the front-seat passenger repetitious points you in the right direction? Somebody really learns driving when he has to handle that himself. Have the courage to do it! By the way a lot can´t happen. When the wind isn´t too strong you rather can capsize by a mistaken jibe. Who doesn´t like taking a involuntary bath quickly keeps in mind want he has to avoid.

Of course you weare a life vest and are in eyeshot of the sailing school.

But attention! Sailing involves a high risk of addiction. I know it from my personal experiance.

Then probably the world at the lake soon gets too small for you and and you want to sail at sea to the land beyond horizon ...