[whipping of wind] [water sloshing] * CHRIS HOPKINSON: The Bay is our Grand Canyon.

The Bay is our Yellowstone.

And we have to protect it as such.

[birds chirping] I started paddle boarding about six years ago.

I just really love just getting out on the board and disconnecting from everything.

Standing just provides that sort of perspective where you can see everything underneath you and you can really sort of connect with the environment that's part of the bay.

I feel like the bay is part of folk's blood here.

It's probably literally a part of your blood just based on the fish and the crabs and everything we eat that comes out of it.

It's also just super unique.

It's a 200 mile estuary.

All you hear about is the Bay health score, it's not doing great.

Everybody wants to save the bay, which is a great slogan, but it's really hard to figure out what you're supposed to do.

It really meant a lot to me to take on the responsibility so that my kids can enjoy paddle boarding or boating and fishing the way that generations before us have as well.

* Growing up here, I had no idea what an oyster did other than serve as you know, a good appetizer.

I didn't know that they filter 50 gallons of water a day.

We took a fish tank, we literally bought oysters from Annapolis Seafood Market, we filled the fish tank with the dirtiest water you could find.

And within three or four hours you know, the oysters had made the water very transparent.

More people need to know about the importance of oysters.

The population is down 99%.

Oyster Recovery, their job is to put oysters back in the bay.

STEPHANIE TOBASH ALEXANDER: Oysters are much more than just the rock blobs that they appear to be.

They're amazing creatures.

They act like little vacuum cleaners and they can just clean up that water and that's why they're so crucial to the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

They are the kidneys.

We spawn the oysters, we get the larvae to mature, we feed them, and then we introduce them into large tanks to create this batton shell.

If we can restore numbers where mother nature can kind of take over and maintain that balance, to me, that's a win.

And I know that we do have a very long way to go.

HOPKINSON: No one that I know of has ever paddled the length of the Chesapeake Bay before.

I have no idea if it's possible.

The idea of paddling was really just how can I draw attention to a story about oysters that people will pay attention to?

REPORTER: News 4's Megan McGrath introduces us to one Maryland Man who's paddle boarding to help save the bay's oysters.

MCGRATH: In September, Hopkinson will begin a 240 mile journey paddle boarding the length of the Chesapeake Bay.

HOPKINSON: From Havre de Grace, Maryland which is the northern port of the Chesapeake Bay all the way down to Virginia Beach.

So it will be nine stops, it will take me about nine days.

MCGRATH: The goal of the Bay Paddle is to raise $200,000 and put 20 million oysters in the bay.

REPORTER: And don't forget the sunblock, brother.

[water splashes] CHRIS NORMAN: Whoo!

CHRIS NORMAN: Stoke is just like a feeling you know?

You get a good vibe and you're just stoked on life being around the water, around good people and you know, you see somebody else smiling and having a great time and you get stoked for them, so.

It's just like a, it's a way of life really.

[laughs] [whistle chirps] MAN: Here we go!

Whoo!

[water sloshing] NORMAN: So Chris told me about this idea you know, I told him he was crazy.

I don't know what he's doing.

[laughs] It takes something this crazy to kind of... get people's attention and say hey, we need to take some action.

HOPKINSON: It will be something.

Exciting and maybe painful.

I think I already pulled something.

NORMAN: Tankers coming through.

HOPKINSON: Yeah.

[makes air horn noise] NORMAN: What's this guy doing out here on a paddle board?

MILFORD MARCHANT: Hey Chris?

[motor noise] Yeah hold up for a second.

Oh, I think it's a terrible idea.

But since he's doing it, we're safety boat.

We're paying a lot of attention to where there are places that we can go in and get you know, MedEvac if we have to.

Squalls will blow up on the bay, and it gets rough.

I mean, it gets really rough.

It is so different from when I first was on the water in the 1950's, and um where you walk out on your pier and you can see the bottom.

Now, four or five times a summer it will get ruled as unsuitable for swimming.

Because of the algae and the bacterial counts.

Uh-oh, Chris just went in the water.

[insects churring] EMMA HOPKINSON: Okay.

Ready?

M. HOPKINSON: Oh Emma, don't do too much.

E. HOPKINSON: I do that every time.

HOPKINSON: That's great, thanks.

E. HOPKINSON: That's why he's feeling better.

HOPKINSON: That's right.

[sighs] I mean, I'm anxious, super anxious.

I don't know what the conditions will be like.

I don't know what nine days of paddling 7 to 10 hours a day will be like.

I feel a lot of pressure to not let people down.

It's not like a normal race where I'm just another one of the 2,000.

MEGAN HOPKINSON: Even if you can't finish it or if you, if it takes you longer, you're not letting people down.

You've already raised a lot of money for Oyster Recovery.

HOPKINSON: I know that, but.

M. HOPKINSON: Do you?

HOPKINSON: I would still like to finish.

M. HOPKINSON: Of course you would.

* [clapping] [water sloshing] HOPKINSON: Thank you guys.

WOMAN: Good luck!

Safe travels!

[wind roaring] HOPKINSON: Day one was the hardest thing I've ever done.

No exception.

[water gurgling] It was seven and a half hours on the water, but the conditions were just horrible.

15 plus knot winds blowing me across the bay.

Two to three foot waves knocking me in the water.

I mean, I've done two Iron Mans and I've never been more physically or mentally beaten.

[roiling of water] It was colder than I expected.

There was actually an EMT on the support boat.

They saw me shaking, thought I was showing symptoms of hypothermia, kinda started asking me some questions.

I said, "I might be in over my head."

[whoosh of wind] I was very nervous about the rest of the trip.

M. HOPKINSON: You ready to do this eight more times?

MAN: Or nine.

HOPKINSON: I mean, if it's like that, it will be nearly impossible.

[waves crashing] We learned a lot in terms of preparation, right, I didn't have a wetsuit.

I didn't expect to have some issues with hypothermia.

50 degree air temperature when you're soaking wet and paddling, I learned my lesson on that one real quick.

DR. MILFORD MARCHANT JR.: You know this kind of chop the kind of frequency here like, your board comes off one wave and goes right into the next.

You just have, there's no- there's no escape, and there's no down time.

He and I have been buddies for a long time.

And uh, we've been on some adventures before, nothing quite like this.

I mean, when you look out here and the only people you see are watermen, that's a pretty good sign.

It's just totally crazy.

[water lapping] [laughter in background] HOPKINSON: Day two.

Milford Marchant and Chris Norman came in to paddle with me.

MARCHANT JR.: It wraps around that and it's a funnel to Kent Narrows.

NORMAN: T minus five.

HOPKINSON: Just a light 20 miler?

NORMAN: He's ready?

Yup.

Let's hit it.

HOPKINSON: I was coming off a brutal day.

I was mentally and physically tired.

And they kinda came with the energy that I did not have.

MAN: There you go.

Whoo!

[honks horn] HOPKINSON: I thought it was over here.

NORMAN: St. Michaels?

HOPKINSON: Yeah.

I know it looks confusing from here.

NORMAN: Yeah.

HOPKINSON: This is like, super tactical.

MARCHANT: You've got to go east to get to Claiborne.

And when you turn east, you're gonna get the waves at your side.

Nobody listens to me.

You know, the wind and the- the weather does change on the bay on a dime.

[water lapping] HOPKINSON: Let's hope we catch this wind right.

NORMAN: Yeah, we will.

* MARCHANT: So we will have covered about 19 miles today.

Considering how strong the wind has been, that's gonna be a great accomplishment.

MAN: Rapid 21?

- Mile 21!

GOMES: [singing] I can't slow down but I sure can't speed up you know it ain't the truth.

[singing to himself] [Man over radio] I'd just hug the shore all the way down.

The only place you're gonna wanna be out is by lows, you don't want to tuck in there because it's just a lot out of your way.

HOPKINSON: Copy that, we're gonna head out at Naps Narrows.

So Naps Narrows is the destination.

[Man over radio] Naps.

Okay Naps Narrows is the destination.

Roger that.

HOPKINSON: Thank you.

That sounded official.

* HOPKINSON: Day three I had Brenda Norman with me, who's Chris's mom.

BRENDA NORMAN: Hi, Love you, bud.

See you on the flip side.

NORMAN: Yeah, you too.

B. NORMAN: I know.

HOPKINSON: Less time in the water is the goal today.

Looks a little choppy.

Brenda brings the type of energy that her son Chris does.

B. NORMAN: Woo!

Woo!

HOPKINSON: She's a better paddler than me.

She was actually giving me tips along the way.

B. NORMAN: Every wave that you catch, lean a little bit to the right.

HOPKINSON: Gotcha.

B. NORMAN: You got it.

Nice.

Woop!

One mile at a time.

HOPKINSON: I started to get a little scared about falling in.

I'd fallen in so many times Friday.

It led to hypothermia.

It takes a lot of energy to stand back up.

[water sloshing] But I got tossed a bunch, and I felt great.

And now I'm back in the grind doing 20 to 25 miles.

Let's go surfing.

This is awesome.

* [water sloshing] [crickets chirping] BRYAN GOMES: I'm with ClearShark H20.

I'm their education coordinator.

I was like, this seems like a worthy project.

We made a plan that I was going to be out there for the whole adventure with Chris.

Saw a, a few more bald eagles today, which really made my day.

I'm kind of a bird nerd.

There I said it out loud.

I've been kayaking about 20 years, and then I lead some wilderness trips, so I had some like, logistical outdoor travel stuff in my arsenal.

I've had times where I've been really tested out there.

So, I have a lot of respect for Mother Nature.

I hope as we go further south, we'll see maybe some dolphins or even some sharks.

That's uh, that is on my list.

HOPKINSON: You hope we see some sharks?

GOMES: Yeah.

HOPKINSON: I don't know if we'll see any sharks.

[laughs] [crashing waves] KEVIN MCCLARREN: I should have brought some gloves.

We're out here everyday, grinding it out, producing filter feeders that then go into restaurants and feed people.

You know?

We're feeding people and cleaning the earth.

It's fantastic.

We have our own hatchery.

So, we produce all the oysters that we grow here, we produce in a lab.

And every oyster that's eaten off this farm relieves the pressure on the wild oyster.

So, less wild oysters are being eaten.

They can stay in the water, and they can provide the ecological benefit that they do.

You know, they're our keystone species in the bay.

You know, without the oysters, we lose our filter.

We get to sell them and make money, and then I can take that money and I can buy a boat.

And I'll buy an RV.

And then I can travel the country with my thirteen year old, showing him Yellowstone.

[water lapping] You see the size difference, right?

So that one's much bigger than some of those.

Cause they just, they all grow at a different rates, unfortunately.

And they're cleaning the water.

So, the water that comes up underneath of that screen, is just laden with algae.

It's just as green as anything.

And then when it comes out the other end, It's gin clear.

Cause the strip every bit of food out of the water.

Because they're all competing to grow.

So they're pumping furiously and pulling all the algae out.

Again, it goes back to the ecological benefit that the oysters afford us.

HOPKINSON: My lips, feet and hands were getting sunburned.

My knees are really starting to bother me.

I didn't know when my body would just have had enough.

[wind whipping] [water sloshing] The conditions hadn't slowed up at all.

We were just getting punished.

And it is disorienting.

[exasperated] Whoo.

I called it.

At five o'clock I said, "I have had enough.

I can't go any further."

And I had boat support pull me out of the water.

I was probably very close to just losing it emotionally because I didn't like quitting.

After that day, I felt really deflated.

The advice I got from my wife, Megan, was just, "Well just get up tomorrow and go paddle."

It was not like a rah-rah motivational speech.

It was more like there's no need to overthink it cause this is what I signed up for.

M. HOPKINSON: Love you.

HOPKINSON: I knew at that point, I really need to appreciate everything that was happening.

I tried to soak in the surroundings.

* This is spectacular.

You feel, like, this connection to the ecosystem and the crabs, and the herons, and the eagles.

So you kind of, all of a sudden feel like I'm the visitor here.

They can't protect themselves and we're the ones doing all the damage.

[water lapping] HOPKINSON: 35 miles.

9 hours, 39 minutes.

One leg to go.

Woo!

I was shooting for 25 miles today.

We went 35.

35 is the most I've ever done.

GOMES: [singing] There ain't no paddle boarder like Chris Hopkinson.

There ain't no kayaker like Bryan Gomes.

* [upbeat happy music] HOPKINSON: It was the last day, and I had about fifteen miles to go.

We got to Kiptopeke State Park.

It was just really cool to see World War II era concrete supply ships, right off the coast of Cape Charles.

I was so grateful to be out there and seeing parts of the bay that most people don't see.

* I'd never been that close to dolphins.

That was like a sign from God, like, congratulations.

Enjoy this moment right here.

[wind whipping] GOMES: That is nuts!

I know!

MARCHANT: They're gonna come around this channel here, and they're gonna get right to here, which is the territorial demarcation mark, which is theoretically, that's where the bay is there.

The ocean's there.

And once they get to that point, it's game over.

And I'm sure Chris will be very happy.

[water sloshing] GOMES: It's getting choppier.

We're about to be in the Atlantic Ocean.

WOMAN: Go!

Go!

Go!

DAUGHTER: Go Daddy Go!

[muffled shouts] HOPKINSON: It was important to me to cross the virtual finish line standing.

[shouting and cheering] * [splash] [clapping and cheering] [boat horn honking] GOMES: Good job dude!

[laughs] [boat horn blaring] GOMES: All right on to France!

Who wants to go to France?!

HOPKINSON: Good job, man.

GOMES: Hell yeah, Chris!

HOPKINSON: What do we do now?

[laughter] Woo.

* [splashing] AUDREY MCDOWELL: This is a three year old hatchery clump.

There is a parent shell right on the bottom where all of these oysters are growing off of.

And then we've even got some natural spat baby oysters growing on them.

EDUCATOR: Oysters make very important habitat.

So, out there in that reef, that attracts all different animals under water.

HOPKINSON: Finishing the paddle was a big relief and certainly raised a lot of money, but everything's kind of, really just starting now.

So we got oyster spats on these oyster shells.

A couple of them have little tiny oysters starting to grow.

Also here through winter and then in the spring we'll take them out to an oyster reef on the Magothy River.

And then they'll grow into adult oysters that filter 50 gallons of water per day.

*