I've been sailing a few times

[salai]

Hello,

Here is a sentence from the story "Sailing a tall ship off the coast of Maine" by Alex Levito published by Reader's Digest, November 2007:
"Since that voyage, I've been sailing a few times."

Why is Present Perfect Continuous used here?
I have always thought that If I say how many times I have done something, it is Perfect Simple, but not Perfect Continuous.

Thank you for the time and help.

 

[Myridon]

"Sailing" is not part of the verb but the name of an activity. "Have been" is the entire verb ("I go", "I went", "I have been"). Compare this sentence to:
I've been to town a few times.
or
I've gone sailing a few times.

 

[salai]

Hello,

Thanks to your explanation the situation is clear now, I thought that it would be correct to say "to go sailing" though.

 

[Einstein]

Hello,

Thanks to your explanation the situation is clear now, I thought that it would be correct to say "to go sailing" though.

We use "been" to express the fact that someone has gone and come back.
He's been to Athens = He's visited Athens
He's gone to Athens = He's in Athens now

 

[entangledbank]

'Go sailing' is the activity: simple past 'went sailing'. The peculiarity is that in the perfect you can use either 'been' or 'gone': I've been sailing = I've gone sailing. This is also true for going to a place: I've been to Russia = I have gone to Russia (and have come back). This is only in the perfect - otherwise you can't use 'be sailing' ('am sailing' etc.) for other tenses of 'go sailing'; but they can still be used with the ordinary progressive use of 'be'.