“‘But…’ my husband hesitated. ‘You don’t have  a license.’ My best friend was less diplomatic. Her text message simply read: ‘ARE THEY MAD?’ “None of my nearest and dearest could quite believe someone was going to let me – a ham-fisted, maladroit non-driver, who even managed to fail the cycling proficiency test – pilot a boat. I’ll admit it; I was a little surprised myself. So when I set off down the Rideau Canal on a Canadian boating holiday it was with the sun on my face, my knuckles white on the wheel and a determination to prove everyone wrong.…