Beautiful pic Robin. Poling the shallows of a lake shoreline is fun provided there's no pressure to perform from folks on dry land. When I first started practicing on my cottage lake, my then 3 yr old son was "cheering me on" from the dock. I got my confidence up and wanted to impress him so I sped up right to the dock with the intention of jamming the pole ahead of me to do a quick stop...the bow still nudged the dock ever so slightly. The mild force knocked me off balance and I face planted into the water right below his feet with the canoe shooting behind to the beach. Of course, now he thinks canoe poling is about belly-flopping in the water like a clumsy idiot so he gets excited every time I take the pole out of the garage.