Until recently, there was little for ordinary mortals who lacked a yacht, but now there are sailing fleets waiting to be hired either bare (for qualified sailors) or with a crew to do the work for you.
Nowadays it's possible to experience sailing even if you don't have experience or the money to buy a yacht, because there are plenty of places to hire a yacht, or a yacht with a crew.
Nelson's urge to enter the public arena was partly the legacy of his father, whose Rockefeller Foundation helped create the modern science of philanthropy, though its underlying purpose was to expunge the malevolent connotations attached to the name of Rockefeller in the wake of the predations of the Standard Oil trust.