Paul Lutus went from no experience to spending three years sailing around the world in 1988-1991. He wrote a book about it which he published on his web site:
Boy...that brings back memories. Paul's writings, as well as reading "An Island to Oneself" by Tom Neale, and "We, the Drowned" meant that most of my early 20s were filled with visions of sailing around the south pacific. Never quite made it there, but life is long...
https://www.arachnoid.com/sailbook/index.html
https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lutusp