I have sailed for many more years than I've flown R/C. The hard skills required for the two activities are completely different.

The big intangible is that sailing teaches you to "feel" what the machine is doing. With sailing, it's you working with the machine, working with the elements, all together. In my case, my sailboat is too heavy to "manhandle", so I have to consider the effect that I want, and then get the boat, the wind, and the water to do the work for me.

I've been teaching R/C flying for about 8 years now, and I've seen people who pick it up right away, and I've seen people who take much longer. I've seen people give up. In the end, the people who do the best, are the ones that "get" how their control inputs affect the plane as a whole. There are other folks that learn to fly through practice and procedure (ie. "If I want to turn left, I make these movements on the stick..."). The latter group takes longer to learn, and I believe that the difference might just be "machine empathy."

Beyond that, I do have a few comments about your intention to teach yourself to fly R/C. You are going to crash - probably a lot. You should consider spending time on an R/C flight simulator and get very good at it before you try a real R/C plane. Also, depending on how much you like to build and repair, you should consider starting with something like a SPAD or a Duraplane, etc.

Finally, please make sure that you start out in a place where there are NO people or property in the vicinity. An R/C plane can do considerable damage it if hits a person or a car or a house, etc.

I would strongly recommend that you find a club nearby and see if you can find someone willing to take you up on a buddy box. Even if you have to drive a few hundred miles, it would be a day well spent to get some time on the sticks with an experienced pilot. I didn't notice where you are at, but if you are in the Pacific Northwest, I'm sure we could get you up for an introductory flight at our club.

Thank you,
-Wade