Vincent (left) and my brother Daniel (right). They really did go canoeing in the sea. In the middle of their little outing Vincent apparrently asked Daniel if he could swim.
He can, which was a good thing, because of course the canoe tipped over. These things are made for rivers, not for the sea. Not even for the mediterranean sea.
Vincent told me that when he was little, his parents used to tie the canoe to the shore, and he spent his days paddeling ten meters to the right and ten metres to the left, imagining he was crossing the oceans of this world all on his own.