This summer I kayaked for the first time ever. My brother Brian, a cardiologist, was my coach, and he was very patient with his older and not-very-co-coordinated sister.
As we ventured out into a tidal lagoon in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, he told me that the most important thing was to just keep paddling. Even if you don’t use a lot of strength, he said, you will be fine as long as you keep moving.