It was at the tender age of 8 that our son Erik joined a small, merry band of frequently wet and shivering children paddling around Gig Harbor in improbably skinny boats, under the tutelage of Coach Jon Sousley. At first, it was all they could do just to stay upright. Actual forward motion came with time. Erik’s kid sister Kelly, then a preschooler, followed the action from the dock with an intensity of a rock band groupie. And so it began for the North family. Twelve years a