A chance sailing trip with a friend from work led me to wonder if I could learn to sail. After all, I'm a woman, and the sailing world seems to favor men. I am not athletic; I didn't grow up in a family where we learned about boating; I would be starting late, since I was in my thirties; and I suffer from seasickness. What I discovered over the next twenty-five years is that I could indeed learn to be a competent sailor. But I didn't expect to be...