PART ONE<br >ggwgggBIIlglg|Bl~gggg|Bg<br >SPORTING HOLIDAYS<br >Learning to Sail hoat. lt can take or so bours to deve~op con~de.ce and<br > proficiency. In their five-day Annapolis course on St.<br >~ Savoring newfound command as he prepares to turn the Croix， Preefer and Zimmerman were assigned to a boat<br >24-foot sloop upwind， David Preefer shouts， "Ready with a physician and an AT&T communications techni-<br >about!" His mates respond， "Ready!" Pushing the tiller clan.<br >hard to leeward， Preefer sings out， "Hard alee!" Jib and At 9 A.M. daily the four met their instructor to review<br >mainsail swing from port to starboard， and tile boat comes nautical lingo (shrouds and stays， not wires) and knots<br >about m a 12-knot breeze， carving a 90-degree arc (square and figure eight)， and to preview tasks aboard--<br >through tile turquoise sea. "That was much better，" calls rigging sails， casting off， docking. They saw how to find<br >instructor Jennifer Adam， 22， from her perch on the aft wind direction (look at the strands of yarn called telltales<br >deck. "It was perfect，" rejoins Preefer， 41， an executive tied high on the shrouds) and how to steer (push the tiller<br >with First Montgomery Properties of Cherry Hill， New away from the direction you want to go). On the last two<br >Jersey. days the novices sailed to other islands for lunch and snor-<br > One of tile mates was Preefer s--his wife， Karen Zim- keling， with their instructor aboard only to answer ques-<br >merman， 31， senior study director with tile marketing tions.<br >analysis division of Booz Allen & Hamilton， a management A five-day (six-night) beginners vacation package for<br >consulting firm. Seeking an active vacation in a warm two costs $990 at the Annapolis school on St. Croix， in the<br >climate， they enrolled in February in a five-day vacation Danish colonial town of Christiansted， with rooms at Best<br >course for new sailors at tile Annapolis Sailing School s Western s Holger Danske Hotel across the street. Preefer<br >branch cm St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is one of and Zimmerman chose other quarters. Without hotel， the<br >hundreds of commercial sailing schools from the Virgin<br >Islands to Hawaii that attempt to turn new sailors into old At the Annapolis Sailing School s Virgin Islands branch， instruc-<br >salts， tot Jennifer Adam (left. rear) keeps an eye on her students: at the<br > What school should an able body choose? That depends tiller， David Preefer: watching the sails， Karen Zimme~man<br > (dark glasses) and Dr. Patricia Mikes.<br >on what kind of boat you want to sail， where you want to i<br >learn-- at a resort or close to home-- and how much time<br > ID<br >and money you want to spend. It also depends on how good<br >the school is， something not always easy to find out. The<br >American Sailing Association， founded in 1980 to set stan-<br >dards for sailing instruction offered commercially， pub-<br >lishes a list of 200 schools that it certifies.<br > The list is useful， but not all-inclusive. The Annapolis Iii~，~<br >Sail ng School founded on Chesapeake Bay in 1959， is the<br > I<br >oldest and largest school in the U.S.， with eight locations，<br >including Texas and Arkansas. But， with a reputation long<br >preceding ASA， it is not a member， Nor is its closest<br >COmpetitor， Steve Colgate s Offshore Sailing School，<br >founded in 1964. It operates on New York s City Island， 30 ~ i<br >