MASTER THE WIND

The Sport: Sailing

The Arena: Captiva Island, Florida

Your Adventure: While everyone else on Florida's Gulf Coast is stooping for seashells and trying to keep out of the wind gusts, you're on a 26-foot sloop…taming them. For more than 40 years, Offshore Sailing School has been coaching novice sailors in the art of trimming sails and differentiating which side of the boat is starboard (that's "right" to you, landlubber). If location is everything, even on water, the school's home base on Captiva Island, which sits near both protected bays and wilder Gulf winds, is ideal. Choose from courses that teach you how to sail, race, or bareboat, spending six hours a day on the water. Happily, your night berth is on solid ground—an airy room at the South Seas Island Resort, whose two-and-a-half-mile-long beach lets you stretch your sea legs—and even look for whelks and cowries, if you're so inclined.

Offshore Sailing School
Tel: 800 221 4326
Three-day, three-night Learn to Sail packages from $1,468, per person, including lodging at South Seas Island Resort