well to be honest my wife and I did both. basic
keel boat then unlimited sailing followed by the last two courses then and
buying a boat. consider the unlimited sailing as cheaper than
buying the first boat that you end up selling far sooner than you can finish pouring all the
money into it.
I really think both is not anywhere near as expensive as the first year of owning a boat. If I had to pick I might be more in favor of the
training. If the two cost the same then by all means do both. If you can get into 20 to 25 ft
keel boats you would be well advised to jump on it. All the
dinghy stuff helps you but it also makes you get the very most out of a course.
If your goal is to
cruise either charter or
ownership this could be the way to the express ticket. If you followed up the basic with the unlimited sailing you could be in great shape.
Also note that while the advanced
training helps, you can often still charter if you take a
captain for a day or so to check you out. It's the way the companies get around not taking your
money and if you had a lot of water time you might just satisfy them as well as have enough confidence to do the rest.
In that way I would take the 1st course plus the unlimited sailing first choice and put off the later courses. You just go into them with more experience PLUS you get to perfect the basics that you really will spend the rest of your sailing career improving. for that reason the better start just seems like the more cost effective solution.
Learn correctly right now and sail a lot right after. Sounds more fun too. You need ways to keep the energy level up there and getting out on a boat on your own is the way that happens. Confidences grows with practice when you start out right. Unlearning bad habits is a lot harder than you think.