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How's it going Hummingbird. I believe alot in what LtDoc said about getting a boat that you like over anything else. Because if it's not fun to play with you wont be sailing very long. If you build you own boat you will have a stronger bond to it then if you just bought it at the hobby shop and snapped it together. Although I saw at the CR-914 class yahoo group Geoff Becker is selling one of his boats. Anyone reading this act fast cause I'm sure it wont be on sale for very long. (email Geoff for info etc. at becker1022 [at] aol.com he put it up for sale Tuesday 26)
Learning to sail is not that complected. At the AMYA site there is a button near the top of the web site called About Sailing which has lots of hints and advice. Not like rc planes, helis and cars where if they get out of control the model can be crashed or someone hit by a run away sail boats are very forgiving. At worst I've done on my learning to sail is scratching the paint. The best I've been told on how to adjust the sails to the wind is imagine that they are a planes wings. You want the wind to run over the surface of the main sail. The Jib sail helps direct the flow of the wind like the slats on the forward edge of a passenger jets wing. Next time you're on a passenger jet and can see the wings during take off or landing notice the slates on the forward edge of the wings extend forward to increase the air flow over the wing. It's rare that you have the wind behind your boat in the direction you want to go. But its fun to see your boat hall ass across the lake with the sails all out. Too bad theres no easy way to put a spinnaker on a rc sail boat. I know with the instructions of the North Winds I got at the very back it has diagrams of how to adjust your sails to the winds direction and the direction you want the boat to go. The North Wind yahoo group has the instructions in a zip file form that you can pick up there or I can email you the file if you are interested.
Not sure about the fishing poles. What where they using them for Hummingbird? The San Louis Obispo chapter has a pool cleaning pole with a hook that they use to put their boats in and out of the lake. Hopefully the weather will be good on Saturday down there cause it looks like after reading the SD Aquanauts website that is when they sail at the park. I like both of Martno1fan's wd40's idea and the ballon idea. Will have to experiment with those.

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A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them.
P. J. O'Rourke