Join a sailing club and land yourself a crewing spot for Saturdays. Join a yacht club and get a crewing spot for Sundays and maybe mid week racing. Get involved with assisting with boat maintenance with the owner. Do not spend any money till you know exactly what you are doing.

Learn to sail a dinghy. If you go straight to a big boat and go down to a club you will not really get taught how to sail, you will be put on simple tasks but not taught why things happen the way the do. If you go an jump in a laser or sabre dinghy then your on your own and you need to know why things are happening. All of this makes you a substantially better big boat sailor (not saying you cant be a good big boat sailor without sailing a dinghy though).

Once you can get around a course then think about bigger boats to learn the basics about winches and how to sail a bigger boat. Coming into a bigger boat with some knowledge will also mean you will be given more meaningful tasks on a big boat Tis will mean you learn more. This would also be the time to start looking for your own boat. Personally I would probably buy a trailer sailor first. This will enable you to do overnighting and learn all the cruising basics like anchoring and night sailing but without needing a big boat. I think that you would be extremely unlikely to be able to buy your world cruising boat as your first boat. You don't know what you will like or not and you sho0uld have more experience before buying something like that.

Talk to the cruising sailors and see if you can crew with them on weekends away as these people are the gems of knowledge that you will need to mine to get your knowledge up. Ask them about the ins and outs of cruising boats and listen and look around at other boats to see what they have, more importantly what they don't have.

Budget for a boat is "how long is a piece of string", how many people, fin keel or full keel, sloop or ketch, fibreglass or steel, how many luxuries do you want, and ultimately - how much do you want to spend? I am now looking to upgrade my boat to do something similar and I wouldn't look at anything less than 100k. But that is me and my knowledge about what I want and the fact that it will be my family including 2 kids. This is why I think it would be foolhardy to buy something until you have the experience to know what you want because you don't want to buy something and it turn out to be not what you want.

And try not to be "Two Sheet To The Wind" too often when learning!

It's not rocket science, just do it if someone like Riley from utubes La Vagabonde can sail half way around the world without a single lesson it shows that anyone with a bit of common sense can do it also.

there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky

Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too

Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need.

Agree with all the above posts even though some seem to be contradictory. Best advice I can give is start today.

Twosheets

I never went the dinghy options as I'm too fat to get back into something that could potentially capsize and I didn't particularly want to get wet every time I went sailing.

In November most clubs have a 'go sailing' day where you can have a look around and even go for a short sail.
In Melb I visited 3 clubs on the same day to get a feel.

Most clubs also have a crew register and can pair you with a boat and you can also get up to 3 days passes to join a crew for races.
A club can give you the opportunity to see many boats in close proximity and potentially try a few out.
Pick a good skipper who doesn't yell and is prepared to share knowledge rather than just use you as a grinder or rail meat.
I liked the club experience but eventually the politics and direction of the club got to me - remember as a member you have a stake in the club.

If you want to buy a boat and do some experiential learning by all means go for it. There are very good videos around now a days and also forums such as this are terrific for debate. There are also some **** video's and forums around too so be careful. Don't be scared as their is no right answer. The only word of warning is do not over capitalise unless you can comfortable carry a loss.

Look at your learning style and risk profile and in the words of Nike "just do it".

My sailing started buying a 1/4 share in Sonata 7.
It was a great way to start as it keep costs low and the other owners taught me to sail.
After about 2 years I sold my share and brought my own boat.

If you are interested in going for a sail on Moreton Bay in keel boat one weekend send me a message, always happy to have people who are passionate about sailing on board.

Thanks all for your encouraging and often contradictory replies. I have been in a boat before (see updated profile) so it's not like I just decided to get a spaceship and go to Mars. I'll be doing all that volunteer crewing and learning and talking to people who know before I get serious about buying one, though I don't want to wait too long. If qualifications aren't mandatory I think I'll just pick it up from experienced sailors and my own intuition. It can't be that hard, hey?

Depends on the state, in WA you need a Recreational Skippers Ticket if in charge of boat with engine of 5-6hp I think.

Lots of clubs offer Competent Crew courses which are a good way to be introduced to the club and help find a crew position on a suitable yacht/skipper. I think it's a better way than just turning up if you don't know anyone and have limited experience.

HG02 said..
We used to have around 17 Sharpies in a club many years ago it was excellent competitive racing
A crew of three. skipper main sheet hand and trapeze . The trapeze handled both spinnakers along with a hand from the main sheet crew.
All made out of Ply low cost to an extent very much so compared with today. That kept 51 people occupied for the day.
competitive and also entertaining. All good skippers

I started sailing as a mainsheet/bailer boy about 1960-61 in Light weight and heavy weight Sharpies. The Lightweight were ply and the heavy weights had planks. They were very expensive boats to buy and sail, certainly out of reach of wage earners. The owners were always business owners or farmers!