Oh, yeah Jim, it is almost addictive, and sometimes very difficult. Did you find that information sometimes just stopped? and, you wonder, what? where did the people go? lol. I found that happening to me. That is neat you could trace the sailing lists. I tried to do the same with one side of the family and nothing. One side of the family, one ancestor, their ancestry home was in Kentucky and IN. I still have family in both states and see, or talk to them from time to time. I visited and twice saw the Indy 500. Rumor has it, I had a relative who drove in it, or was a mechanic in it. I could never get it confirmed. I love the Indy and never, hardly ever anyway, miss it on tv. I tried the online services, and used it once or twice on their free trial offers. I found out some things but still not alot. Actually, I did pay for one, I think it was an offer for 6 months, and I did find more things with that one. It is fun to do when you have the time. But, with working, it is hard to squeeze in the time like you would want.
It is something I think most people stop for a while then, go back later and restart searching again. It is fun to do. I bought a graph where you can outline all the names and dates showing who was born to who. I made copies of what I have so far and passed it on to my kids, my nieces and my nephews. So many times, the classrooms makes something like this a classroom project.