Editor's note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length. You can listen to this conversation by clicking the LISTEN button above.
Rick Brewer: In 2013, three outdoor enthusiasts from Northwest lower Michigan came up with an idea on how to raise money for the environment: by crossing the Great Lakes on paddle boards. Now, a new documentary featuring their journey to cross Lake Ontario has been released. WCMU's Tina Sawyer recently spoke with director Corey Adkins about the film "Crossing Ontario" and why the group wanted to paddle board across all five Great Lakes.
Corey Adkins: So it's Quinn, Morris, Jeff Guy and Joe Lorenz who have done all 5. And you know, they formed a 501C3 and it's been quite successful over the years. They give all of the money that they raise away. We've given away over $100,000 to specific groups and we are also scholarship based, so we'll hand out scholarships to high school seniors that are going towards studying saving freshwater because that's what Stand Up for Great Lakes means. A lot of people misquote us and say stand up for THE Great Lakes but it Stand UP for Great Lakes because all fresh water is important.
Tina Sawyer: So what kind of setbacks happens during these types of paddle boarding excursions?
CA: Well, Great Lakes. You always have to respect these Great Lakes. On Lake Michigan, they weren't prepared because basically the temperature of the water—it will be the temperature of the air at night and they didn't have wet suits or anything, and some of them were going to try to do it with bare feet. Huron was a long, long trip. It took like 28 hours. Storms were starting to come on us on both sides, and it rained on the guys for hours and hours and hours.
TS: So what do they do? They just lay on the boards. What happens?
CA: No, they just keep going, they only — we only give them like an hour to rest on the board and eat and all that. But it's a it's a 24 to 28 hour event, every single one of these events. Surprisingly, Lake Superior - which should have been the hardest - was the easiest. They did just about 70 miles and they did it in 22 hours. They were just flying across that lake, and the lake just laid down for them like nothing I've ever seen.
TS: Were there any potential hazards with, like, shipping lanes or currents or anything like that?
CA: You know on Lake Superior, the freighters, because we were in a shipping lane. We're a little South of it, but we are still in a shipping lane and and some of the freighters, I don't know, three or four of them pass us that night. And you know, we're in constant contact with these people on the radio. There was a Norwegian freighter that was like, "What are you guys doing out there? And we were like, "You know, we're paddle boarding across the Lake Superior, you know, to raise money." And they're like, "well, I'll give you a wide berth then." And so all the freighters that were coming by were going out of their way to give them a wide berth. So they probably ended up being a quarter mile away from the guys. But when the freighter wakes, did hit that night, they weren't expecting it, but nobody fell in on Lake Superior.
TS: Anything out of the ordinary that maybe happened that you couldn't explain?
CA: Yeah. When we did Ontario, that was when there was a lot of wildfires going on in Canada. And when we — we only had a very small window to do this because Toronto was so far away from all our homes. We always pick a window, a weather window to do these things. When we drive into Ontario in the daytime, the sun is out, but it's all fog because of the smoke coming from the forest fires. At that particular point, we are reading news reports that Toronto was the most polluted city on Earth at that time. Now imagine you're hopping on a paddle board and you don't have anywhere to hide and you're breathing that stuff and you have, you know, 38 miles ahead of you. Luckily, when we left that morning to do Ontario, the wind shifted and blew all the smoke. So it wasn't as bad, but boy, Lake Ontario beat those guys up. Most people think of Ontario as the smallest lake, and it's not as mighty, but it's mighty.
TS: Would you do it again?
CA: That's a loaded question right there.
TS: I'm putting you on the spot.
CA: Yeah, I'd do it again. You know, we accomplished the goal. We did cross all 5 Great Lakes and raised a lot of money for a lot of great causes. Right now, we're trying to figure out what's next for us. We want to infuse youth into this organization because they're the future.
