This June, Joe Lorenz, Kwin Morris and Jeff Guy plan to paddleboard across Lake Erie, traversing international waters and rough waves and dodging toxic algae blooms, all in an effort to raise awareness of Great Lakes environmental issues. Their goal is to fundraise $10,000 for the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research.

They’ll begin their adventure at Belle Isle State Park, home of the Dawson Great Lakes Museum, and end it at Sandusky, Ohio. The 80-mi. trip is expected to take about 24 hr.

In 2018, the trio crossed Lake Superior on paddleboards and raised $15,000 for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in the process. That trip challenged the men with cold waters and waves from passing freighters.

They have successfully paddled across three of the five Great Lakes.

Each paddleboarder carries all of his supplies on his own paddleboard: food, extra clothes and straws that filter drinking water from the lake.

This current expedition will benefit the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR), a nonprofit housed in the University of Michigan that works on algal bloom research and safeguarding the Great Lakes ecosystem.

For more information or to make a donation, visit  StandUpForGreatLakes.com and follow the team on Facebook.com/StandUpForGreatLakes and on Instagram.com/StandUpForGreatLakes. 

Watch the award-winning documentary about their Lake Superior Crossing here.