Peter, there _is_ a middle ground here.

I grew up on the Maumee River, which contains the largest watershed in the Great Lakes basin. I have experience with youthful exuberance along and within navigable waters, both sanely executed and while "cackling at catastrophe." For instance, ice floe hopping during the spring ice breakup, when it comes down and jams up against the island, flooding the old canal bed, then refreezing. All sorts of adventure there. A 12" thick ice floe makes a great raft, you can pole it around as long as you have a long pole and stay in the middle. And don't try to continue rafting into the summer. But I digress.

The middle ground is literally, the middle ground. What you do is start filching spirits gradually from your father's stock, stashing it in a Fanta pop bottle cleverly concealed somewhere in your house that only you know about. Get about 12 ounces. Do this over quite a period of time so that no one notices, and it gets good and flat (this is the planning aspect of your adventure, the looking ahead, that John Leeke described). Then schedule a sleepout with your friends, who have similarly been amassing a stash. Now get yourself a rowboat. Row out to the island in the middle of the river. Build a terrific camp fire. Drink your stash straight down, then quickly row back to shore so one of your friends can visit his girlfriend. This is when your personal adventure begins, when the Fanta starts to kick in.

I don't remember the rest of the story, which is good, because you won't have to lie to your mother about what you were doing and worry her. Whether you tell your Dad depends if you used the good stuff, or the stuff he saves for the annoying neighbors next door when you _have_ to entertain them.

Good luck, and don't do anything you wouldn't mind telling stories about 25 years later.
_________________________________________________________
Dan Becker,  Exec. Dir.,   "Help me, Mr. Wizard!  I don't 
Raleigh Historic            want to be here anymore!"
Districts Commission                 - Tooter the Turtle
[log in to unmask]  
919/890-3678