Meet the team who crossed all 5 Great Lakes by paddleboard

Three men from Michigan are riding a wave of excitement after accomplishing an extremely rare feat — traversing through all five Great Lakes using stand-up paddleboards.

Their most recent trek took place last month when Kwin Morris, Jeff Guy and Joe Lorenz crossed through Lake Ontario in about 13 hours.

That marked the fifth and final crossing of a Great Lake over a 12-year span — all with the goal of raising money for organizations which support and preserve the Great Lakes.

Morris told CTV News Windsor the idea to do this spawned from a conversation with friends at a 2014 Christmas party.

In June 2015, Morris and four others paddled across Lake Michigan in about 24 hours.

"We learned that cold water is actually better because it keeps the waves down. But we froze. We weren't prepared. We didn't realize how long it would take us and what we would face out there," said Morris.

That first trek resulted in two people dropping out of future Great Lakes crossings. Morris, Guy and Lorenz decided to push forward.

The trio crossed Lake Huron in 2017, Lake Superior in 2018, Lake Erie in 2019 and Lake Ontario this past June.

On every Great Lakes crossing, the trio is trailed by a safety boat. 

In total, they spent 115 hours on the water and helped raise more than $100,000 for organizations supporting the Great Lakes.

"For Lake Ontario, we picked the Cooperative Institute For Great Lakes Research. They're monitoring with buoys. They're doing shoreline restoration and flood control to keep agricultural runoff and even city runoff from getting into the lakes," said Morris.

The trio, known collectively as Stand Up For Great Lakes, is expected to meet next week to plan yet another paddleboarding adventure across Lake Superior.

"In the beginning, I was this young dude who couldn't wait to cross the lakes. Now, I've transitioned to really showing respect to the Great Lakes and how fragile there are," said Morris.

He added, "Also, I have a family of my own. During this last crossing, I was thinking of future generations. When my kids grow up, they're going to grow up thinking, 'Wow, my dad did something to protect this place.'