Heading out, travelled by boat and became sick (5)
I believe the answer is:
ailed
'became sick' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'heading out travelled by boat' is the wordplay.
'heading out' means to remove the first letter (the letter which heads the word is removed).
'travelled by boat' becomes 'sailed' (I've seen this before).
'sailed' with its initial letter taken away is 'AILED'.
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for ailed that I've seen before include "Felt bad" , "Delia (anag.)" , "Troubled" , "was giving trouble" , "Was unwell" .)