The nausea hits me imperceptibly at first—less like the proverbial “rogue wave” that you read about in sailing books, and more like an invisibly rising tide. But the symptoms are the same: the sweats, ...

This is how Will Bradshaw, director of the Port Jefferson Yacht Club Sailing School, reassures parents who are starting a 6-year-old off in sailing class, in the smallest sailboats available: “I ...