When I first got back into sailing I aimed at learning to be an ocean racer. Until that time I had a reasonable amount of Dinghy Rcaing experience and had sailed 12 and 14 foot catamarans a lot. However the thought of taking on a 38 foot Fixed keel performance sloop weighing more than my Toyota Hilux was a bit daunting to say the least. I started by looking for crew slots as I figured as a junior crew member I could learn. Trouble as that they always asked for my resume and it was empty. So I looked in my wallet and wondered if the answer to Ocean racing access was in there. It was. Buying seats on good ocean going racers was hard to find but could be done.
Since then I have learned a great deal about acronyms like ORC. IMS, IRC and words like Polyester, Vynylester carbon fibre and on it goes.