An Epic Paddleboard Trek To Protect The Great Lakes

Four-hundred-twenty-five miles: That’s how far a pair of northern Michigan friends traveled aboard standup paddleboards in the summer of 2021 as a show of political advocacy for Great Lakes conservation and climate action. Now, that epic 36-day trek is the subject of a brand-new documentary film titled Troubled Water, which will have its world premiere later this month at the City Opera House in downtown Traverse City.

According to Chris Yahanda, who both paddled the 425 miles and produced the film, the idea for Troubled Water started almost three years ago as a conversation between three friends that have known one another since kindergarten. There was Yahanda, whose family has roots in the greater Grand Traverse area “dating back to around the 1940s.” There was William Wright, whose family has similarly deep roots in Petoskey. And there was Davis Huber, a filmmaker who lives in Los Angeles but who grew up in Indiana and carries a lifelong affinity for the Great Lakes.

Back in 2020, the trio were in the midst of a just-for-fun paddleboard trek from Walloon Lake near Petoskey to Elk Rapids. “And when we were on that trip, just camping on the beach one night, we got a notification on our phones that Line 5 was being ordered to temporarily shut down,” Yahanda says, referring to the controversial pipeline, owned by the Canadian energy company Enbridge, that runs under the Straits of Mackinac. That news spurred a conversation about Line 5 among the group of friends, who see the pipeline as a “ticking time bomb” that could put the health of the Great Lakes in jeopardy.

“And so, sitting on the beach and hearing that news, I think it struck us that we should try to get more involved in trying to protect our favorite place,” Yahanda tells The Ticker.

Out of that conversation, the concept for Troubled Water was born. Given Huber’s career in the film industry – and his passion for nature photography – the three quickly hit upon a documentary film project as the best way of “getting our message out and trying to tell our story.” Conversations with northern Michigan water protection organizations – such as For Love Of Water (FLOW) and Oil & Water Don’t Mix – helped the friends firm up the idea.

Soon, a plan was in place: Yahanda and Wright would plot an “outrageous adventure to grab people’s attention” – specifically, a paddleboard trek from Mackinac Island to Lansing – and Huber would document their journey on film. Along the way, they’d connect with people and organizations that rely on Michigan’s freshwater resources and use those conversations to “analyze the issues facing the Great Lakes – not just Line 5, but also touching upon things like invasive species and water quality.”

In the summer of 2021, the trio put their plan into action. Yahanda and Wright pushed their paddleboards into the water starting on Mackinac Island, paddled across the Straits, and traversed the Lake Michigan shoreline all the way down to Grand Haven. There, they connected with the Grand River and traveled inland, passing Grand Rapids and following the water all the way to Michigan’s capital city. The idea, Yahanda says, was to underline the connection, through water, between the place where Line 5 bisects the Great Lakes and the place where politicians have been trying to decide the pipeline’s fate.

For 36 days, 12 hours, and 32 minutes, Yahanda and Wright paddled. Sometimes, favorable winds and good spirits allowed them to knock out big segments of their 425-mile journey at once. On one particularly productive day, Yahanda says the duo were able to cover 36 miles between sunrise and sunset. On other days, the weather didn’t cooperate, limiting their progress to as little as four miles. The need to carry supplies with them on their boards – including tents, sleeping backs, clothing, and “about 10 days worth of food at a time” – made the travel tougher than your average paddleboard session.

“We had to do a couple of test paddles [before we set out] to see how much harder it is with all that gear on the board,” Yahanda says. “That helped us estimate what distances were feasible per day.”

All along the way, Huber and his production assistant, Landon Seeley, followed Yahanda and Wright’s progress from the shore, chasing the pair “in a car with a trailer with a small boat on it.”

“They would track our progress via land, and then in good spots, they'd put the boat in the water and drive out to get good footage of us,” Yahanda explains of the actual filmmaking process. “Each of them had a camera, and then they also had a drone that they would fly to get aerial footage.” Yahanda and Wright also had cameras on them at all times – two GoPros and one handheld – which they used to document the more minute-to-minute nuances of the journey. “And then, nightly, we also did video journals, which are featured pretty heavily in the movie, where we’d recap the day and everything that we'd experienced.”

In the final film, all those various types of footage comingle with interviews from people who rely on the Great Lakes in one way or another.

“Along the way, planned or unplanned, we met a lot of really amazing people that are extremely dedicated to protecting the lakes,” Yahanda explains. “For instance, we ended up developing pretty close relationships with a number of people in the Native American community, and so we get their perspective on a lot of these issues in the film. We also sat down with Nels Carlson of Carlson’s Fishery in Fishtown, who gives perspective on invasive species. And then there's expert interviews as well – so, people from FLOW, Oil & Water Don’t Mix, the National Wildlife Federation, and Annis Water Resources Institute.”

Yahanda is hopeful that the interviews, combined with footage of the paddleboard journey itself, help communicate a message about the bountiful beauty and endless value of the Great Lakes as a resource, and about the importance of preserving that resource at all costs.

The premiere of Troubled Water is scheduled for Friday, September 15 at the City Opera House. Doors open at 6:30 for a reception with a full cash bar, and the movie starts at 7:30. The film is 68 minutes long and a Q&A session will follow with the film production team. Tickets are $13 and are available online or at the door.