My friends are planning a vacation. They are planning on renting a
sailboat for 5 days. The plan is to use the boat to navigate to a
few different islands. The boat sleeps 8. (I assume it's a big
boat.) No one in the group has sailing experience. They are
providing a skipper for the first 2 days, then we're on our own for
the next 3 days...


Is this at all possible? Or is this complete absurdity?

There seem to be many nuances that you just can't learn in a day or 2.
(the knots, docking, making sure the boom doesn't kill you, etc)
I've been told they will provide a skipper for the first 2 days, then
the group is on their own for the next 3 days...

Frankly, I am surprised a place would even rent a sailboat of that
size to a group of novices.