"Are these canoes free for our use?"
Assuming they are:
"Thank you. May you have a joyful evening."
I turn to our group.
"I'll take the lead canoe with Noir. Fiddler, Ebony, and Dar, you should take a second one together as a group. Eye, just fly along with us."
that keeps Noir close to me, and if something bad happens to the lead canoe we can both fly out of it.
I then move down to the riverbank and pull the lead canoe most of the way off the riverbank, but still leaving it slightly on. I then hold it steady and gesture for Noir to climb in while I steady it for her (and I don't care if she flies in, I'm still doing this, her landing will rock it if I don't.). I then make sure she's settled in the front seat (which has less control of where the canoe goes) and pull it just barely the rest of the way off the bank, keeping it in the very shallowest area so I can still easilly walk with it. I then direct her to lean away from me and to stay low in the canoe, and after I've seen her do so and feel the canoe trying to tilt away from me I then climb up and in myself, keeping my center of gravity low as I do so. Finally, I settle myself into the rear seat of our canoe and let Noir settle herself in as well, but periodically backpaddle to keep our canoe here at the start location, and wait to make sure the other canoe follows our example on how to launch and get into a canoe without flipping it over.
((note: the person who will have the hardest time getting in will be whoever gets in last.))
Assuming nobody tumps themselves into the river, then I partial-shift to my favorite hybrid cat-form to take advantage of the better nightvision and hearing, and we head down the river to union celebration site, staying in front but also in sight of the other canoe.