Starting is easy. Getting the right
boat is the first challenge.
Get down to your favorite marina and join the club / bar and crew for any one who has a sound
boat and sound frame of mind. Buy your own
safety kit and use it!
Self inflating lifevest with a harness and crotch strap the will allow unconcious you to be pulled out of the
water and over the side of a boat. Get use to wearing it all the time while you're out with people you haven't sailed with before.
I'm jealous as hell if c81 means you're 29. Most of us come to do full time sailing later in life, you have the world before you.
A
dinghy might be a way to start too but windsurfing has taught you the basics, move to a day-sailor soon that you can wekend on and crew on as many bigger boats as you can. Pick someone to teach you how to sail your boat, (you might have to pretend to be dumb to get the best teacher!)
There's a thread somewhere of an american girl going solo for the first time. She was thrilled. You'll be away soon too.
I don't want to start a Cat v Mono debate but make sure you try one of those too, the smaller ones are much more practical for camping style weekending and very different and can be on car towed
trailer too.
Enjoy. Don't drink sea
water. That's for windsurfers!