Arabnews24.ca:Friday 9 June 2023 06:27 PM: Three men from Michigan are crossing Lake Ontario on stand up paddle boards to raise money for a non-profit organization that aims to preserve and protect the Great Lakes.
Jeff Guy, 37, Joe Lorenz, 37, and Kwin Morris, 36, headed out onto the water from Humber Bay Park in Etobicoke at about 7:30 a.m. on Friday.
Guy, Lorenz and Morris have already paddled across Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Superior and Lake Erie. Lake Ontario is the last lake in their journey across all five bodies of water that straddle Canada and the U.S.
Their 105-kilometre journey is expected to take about 24 hours, with the three hoping to touch the shore near Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Niagara in New York, before they paddle back to Toronto. The plan is to arrive at Bluffer's Park in Scarborough on Saturday morning.
"The Great Lakes are a special place," Morris told CBC Toronto. "There's nowhere else on Earth like this."
The trip hopes to raise $25,000 for to Stand Up For Great Lakes, a non-profit organization they run based in Williamsburg, Michigan. Its mission to preserve and protect all of the Great Lakes through "inspiration, education, awareness and action."
"Really, we're trying just to have a positive impact on something we love so much. It started as, can you do it, and now it's grown into, we have a positive, amazing impact on these Great Lakes that we grew up loving," Morris said.
In a news release, the three said their focus is to help the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, a non-profit housed at the University of Michigan. The institute works to safeguard the Great Lakes ecosystem.
An 'important' mission
Two safety boats will escort the group, and there is an emergency medical technician on one of the boats. Each of the men is wearing a dry suit and personal flotation devices for the journey. And each is carrying food, extra clothes and straws that filter drinking water from the lake all — on their own paddle boards.
The dangers they face include hypothermia, fatigue, high winds, big waves and passing though shipping lanes in the dark.
'It's looking pretty good, pretty calm," Morris said. "We might have a little head wind here and there but it's looking good."
Corey Adkins, 52, communication and content director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, said the crossing will raise awareness of the Great Lakes. He has followed the group and produced documentaries on their work.
Problems on the Great Lakes vary from algal blooms to microplastics, he said.
"They are all in trouble in one form or another," he said. "What these guys do is bring awareness of the problems of each lake. The mission that these guys are on is very important."
