When Effy crouched down, Kate did as well, putting her hands against the canoe and pushing against it as hard as she could. Briefly, she wondered if they'd put oars inside and glanced over the edge to make sure, but they were there, lying along the sides of the canoe.

Slowly, as they pushed, it began to slide forward. It was heavier than Kate had expected, having never done it before and having only ever seen people do it on TV. They always pushed it forward so quickly, right into the water, laughing, splashing, but by the time the nose of the canoe was in the ocean, she was a little out of breath.

"This looks way easier when other people do it," she said, pausing to push her hair out of her eyes.