you need to row as one. If you don't you will be severely bruised by those in front or back of you. Real teamwork where one cannot do one's own thing!

Yeah, I learned that one the hard way in high school. That's where I also learned about the upper-crusty nature of rowing, from the coach. I was cut without undergoing the time test that was supposed to determine who was on the team, as I wasn't the "right kind" of person to row.

Canoes are something else. When my son was in the Boy Scouts I went canoeing on a 50-mile loop in the Fulton Chain Lakes in the Adirondacks (NY State) as well as some rapids down the Delaware River on another occasion.

Now there's something I know about. The longest trip I ever did was about 200 miles in the Temagami region in Northern Ontario... that was a gruelling haul down the Lady Evelyn River and through a whole lotta lakes. Another place that I highly recommend to anyone who is into canoeing is Killarney, on the northern shore of the Georgian Bay. Absolutely breathtaking. The view from Silver Peak is incredible, and the view north along Killarney Lake has to be seen to be believed.