Growing up un the U.P., we had an aluminum canoe since I was about 7. I would paddle and fish in our bayou just off Lake Superior,  with my friends. My dad would take me out sometimes too, sometimes on the big lake,, and he gave me the basics. In high school, now in lower Michigan,  I'd go on day trips down the Pine  and Manistee rivers. I guess when I got older and began taking trips to Sylvania and Quetico,  I never really thought about it, paddling just seemed instinctive.