I would say that sailing has always been something that rich geeks get into.

There are numerous blogs and even sites (pre-blogging days) by programmers, etc. who made some money and then bought a boat and sailed away.

With the recent price spikes on oil, sailing starts to look cool, as it is one of the earliest forms of wind power.

More important than money are water and wind.

I didn't notice this trend but incidentally I just bought a sailboat and took sailing classes. And sailing is awesome in more ways than I can count.

I don't know about recent, but sailing is awesome! We do it quite a bit here in Marblehead. As this year's commander of the Marblehead Sail and Power Squadron http://www.usps.org/localusps/marblehead/exec-comm.html I would whole-heartedly encourage you to take a boating safety course and learn some basic stuff before you go get too adventurous!

I thought kitesurfing was the new geek trend. Read a bunch of articles about a bunch of Google bigwigs taking that up a couple years ago. I'm still too chicken to try it, alas.

Where do people go for sailing class in SF? I sailed in college and am looking to pick it up again...

Skiff sailing is the new trend ! Small, fast and fun boats, that's the future :)

I'd love to get into that, but given that my only sailing experience is 420s and FJs on a lake that never had any wind, I think I should probably start with something a little less hard to handle. ;-) Know of any dinghy sailing schools in the South Bay?

I live in France, so... I don't have any idea :)

I'm asking my friends, I'll ping when I get an answer.

Our survey says: http://modernsailing.com/

Happy to help. :P

Thanks. :-)

I've been sailing for years and, as the others have written, it is awesome. I've found geek and non-geek alike find enjoyment in it.