What helped me alot before I took lessons, was having a bit of knowledge beforehand.  I think I got more put of the class knowing the nomenclature, etc  than I would if I had gone in cold turkey.  We started on smaller boats and eventually migrated to larger.  Main differences were the running rigging and keels...I actually prefer the smaller boats...I like being able to lower and raise the center board according to the point of sail I am on.  Instead of using books, I used learntosailonline.com...I also purchased learn sailing software..(learntosail.net) I still use these for review and find them quite handy.   Hope this helps other new sailors and Happy sailing!

TrailerSailor

So you went in reverse, so to speak.  Anyway, there is a free sailing teleseminar this Thursday (actually I think they are having them every Thursday) with sign up form at

http://learntosailonline.com/seminarsignup.htm  in case you are interested..