mpeebles wrote on Dec 13^th, 2018 at 12:53pm:

I would also think that a lot of patience and a great sense of humor (on both parties part) would be a prerequisite for a trip like that   :)

No doubt about that.  Going in with the right set of expectations for a challenge like that is everything.

Sometimes you get surprised, however.

I did a trip with my brother about 14 years back.  We invited a friend along whom we hadn't seen in 20+ years.  We didn't know he had grown to be over 400 pounds.  He was my brother's bow paddler.  It took the two of us, standing hip-deep in the lake, to lower him into his seat in my brother's tandem.  Portaging was also a real challenge.  Even the real easy portages seemed the "Bataan Death March" to my brother's friend (his phrase, not ours).  The key was just as mpeebles says, "a great sense of humor" on everyone's part!

Similarly, one year I got saddled with a "blind date", so to speak, in the bow of my canoe.  My buddy from NJ asked a couple of his friends along... and HE cherry-picked which guy was going to be seated in the bow of his tandem.  I got the fellow who couldn't stay awake and whose paddle seldom touched the water.  I got so used to chauffeuring "old Bob" around Russell Lake while trolling that I didn't notice he had fallen asleep (again) and dropped his paddle about 1/2 mile back (where Chatterton Falls spills in).  So he snorts himself awake and finds his arms still going but he's holding nothing in his hands.  It was worse a few days later when I made the judgment error of attempting to paddle up a Grade One rapid where the B-Chain empties into Oliphaunt.  Bad move.  Had Bob even dipped his blade into the water once on his side of the canoe, we'd have made it up those rapids!  Oh, well.  So we flipped a fully-laden canoe... first time for me in over 30 years.  Even I learn, eventually, however.  At the very end of that trip we were confronted with BIG rollers on Pickerel Lake.  Let's just say I wizened-up and chose the better part of valor that time.

I truly applaud the efforts of folks who are fighting their way through personal challenges to keep their passion for canoeing going.  However, the entire party needs to have a sober & frank discussion of any party members' serious limitations well in advance (if they are aware of any).  Without group commitment, it can truly jeopardize safety and overall morale on a given trip.

Later,

Jimbo   8-)