Power Paddleboarders

Three Michiganders will cross Lake Superior on paddleboards in June, closing the book on an adventure paddleboarding all five Great Lakes to raise money for charity.

BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND

On most days, if you stand on one side of Lake Michigan you can see the other. “It would be a fun adventure to take a boat across,” some might think. Not Jeff Guy, Joe Lorenz, and Kwin Morris.

Boat? Please. Paddleboards are their water vehicle of choice.

The three Michiganders have taken paddleboarding to a new level. They’ve paddle boarded across four of the five Great Lakes—Lake Michigan was the first—and will complete the sweep when they cross Lake Superior in June. It all started as just a hobby.

“Paddleboarding was kind of taking off and a couple of us had started paddleboarding at the time, but just recreationally,” Morris says. “Then it turned into an adventurous thing, an adventure of a lifetime. There were five of us on the first paddle across Lake Michigan and it would be naive to say it lightly how big and how dangerous and crazy the Great Lakes are.”

Morris says the Lake Michigan paddle started comfortably enough with 70-degree temperatures on shore, but things changed when he and his mates neared the middle of the lake, where the water temp was 37 degrees and the air temperature was 42.

“When we left shore, we were all no shirts. We got to the middle, and it was a whole different climate out there,” Morris says. “But it really just started this adventure and then we started getting some media attention. We thought we might as well turn it into a positive and raise money and show people how amazing the Great Lakes are and that's how our nonprofit started.”

The nonprofit, Stand Up for Great Lakes, channels the three men’s love of water and thirst for adventure to raise money to protect the Great Lakes. It has given to a number of organizations, including the Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes, whose shared missions are to raise awareness of the environ- mental importance of the Great Lakes. The organization has distributed more than $100,000 to date.

“For each paddle we try and pick a different organization and the big thing for us is they have to be a positive organization. When we set off to do this, we didn’t want to necessarily pick sides and send all this negativity out,” he says. “We want to show some issues that are going on with the Great Lakes and some organizations that are doing something about it.”

One thing to know about Guy, Lorenz, and Morris is that their paddleboard adventures are not a lazy day out at the park. The physical rigor involved in traversing 80 miles across a windy lake should not be underestimated.

“Active stand-up paddleboarding isn't really that tough. Obviously, it’s different if you're racing or if you're in huge waves and you're balancing on the board,” Morris says. “We've experienced a little bit of everything. You're standing on a paddleboard for 24 hours plus.

Even on a calm day, it’s fluid.”

The team’s paddles are unassisted, but they are accompanied by a boat if they find themselves in an emergency situation. All supplies they may need during the trip are carried on the boards with them.

“The boat is there for safety, in case someone gets hurt and has to be taken off,” says Morris. “We haven't touched the safety boat on any of our paddles yet.”

For more information and to donate to Stand Up for Great Lakes, visit standupforgreatlakes.com.