I started sailing Hobie Catamarans when I was in high school and eventually played with 14's, 16's and 18's learning the basics of wind power and how to skipper and crew. Needless to say, this makes me very popular with our friends who love heading out on hour-long trips off the east coast of Florida when the weather's nice.
The U.S. Navy paid for my engineering degree and one of my undergraduate assignments was acting as the Executive Officer of a 32' monohull that had been confiscated by the Drug Enforcement Agency. As you can image, she was in pretty rough shape and it took A LOT of work to keep her seaworthy for our weekly, day-long jaunts around Boston Harbor.
My 5 years in the Navy involved very little sailing (a common complaint among seafarin' men since the days of Ol' Ironsides) but I did learn a lot about navigation, rules of the road and they even taught us how to do a bit of celestial navigation. Bring out the sextant and we'll have plenty to keep us engaged for an evening or two.
My wife and I rented a sailboat in Greece back in 2002 and spent a week island hoping in the Mediterranean. Loved it! Learned how to manage a HUGE language barrier and how to anchor in tight quarters. Also realized that I'd much rather sail in clear, warm water.
Last year we bareboat chartered a 42' Lagoon Catamaran and spent a week sailing around the Bahamas with 3 other couples.
We're doing the same later this month on a 45' Lagoon Catamaran in the British Virgin Islands.
That's about it for my sailing qualifications. Not very extensive, but I'm a quick (re)learner and will make myself useful in no time.
What else should I share? I'm an outdoorsy-type that likes to run, bike, camp, hike, etc... I've had my SCUBA certification since high school, am a Private Pilot and licensed skydiver, speak Spanish conversationally and am always looking for exciting adventures! Just got back from a(nother) 500+ mile backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail.
I retired on April 1st, so my schedule is now VERY flexible.