Up the Bay With a Paddle—and a Mission

If trekking down the nearly 250-mile length of the Chesapeake Bay on just a stand-up paddleboard sounds bonkers, that’s just what Chris Hopkinson ’96 intended.

Starting Friday, the alum will make the first-ever attempt at that feat during the Bay Paddle, a nine-day journey on a 14-foot board from Havre de Grace, Md., to Virginia Beach. The event, presented by Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery, is supporting the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP), aiming to raise $200,000 to plant 20 million water-filtering oysters in the bay.

“My goal is to help save the bay, and I think oysters can do that,” Hopkinson said. “I felt like doing something crazy like this would draw a lot of attention to that story.”

Despite growing up in Annapolis, Hopkinson didn’t get out on the water much until he received a paddleboard as a gift from his wife around six years ago. Now an Arnold, Md.-based chief strategy officer for a software solutions firm, he doesn’t claim to be a paddling pro, but he got the hang of the motions pretty quickly—“riding a bike is much harder to master than paddleboarding,” he said.

While he promptly came to appreciate feeling almost like a guest to the herons, ospreys, fish and crabs on his routes, his longest excursion before he got the idea for the Bay Paddle had only been around nine miles.

The tides changed, though, after Hopkinson helped his daughter with her sixth-grade science fair project. The pair filled a tank with muddy river water, then placed a dozen oysters from a local seafood market inside. At first, they could barely see the critters, but within three hours, the water was clear.

“It was pretty amazing,” Hopkinson said. “Doing it ourselves was really cool to see.”

According to the ORP, a single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day through its feeding process. But due to several factors, including overharvesting, disease and poor water quality, they are down to 1% of their historical abundance in the Chesapeake Bay.

Hoping to do his part to help, Hopkinson reached out to the ORP about his idea to raise awareness—and funds—for the cause.

“We thought it was pretty crazy—240 miles on a paddleboard in all sorts of conditions,” said Karis King, ORP public relations and events manager. “He quickly won us over. He’s super selfless, and he really is passionate about the work he’s doing.”

Fundraising kicked off this summer, with Hopkinson, who studied journalism at UMD, getting a boost from his network of Terps and so far securing more than $123,000 of his $200,000 goal. While that effort ramped up, so, too, did his physical preparation. Amid a 22-week program, which included four days a week on the water and two of strength exercises, he focused on physical therapy, foam rolling and stretching with his coach, Seychelle Webster. At 46 years old, recovery has been key, Hopkinson said, as he gets his body ready for extended pacing on the paddle.

Even amid COVID-19, he was still able to hit the water safely: “Some dude paddling on the bay by himself is pretty good social distancing,” he said. After working his way down the coast around 30 miles a day, his one-man voyage will wrap up on Sept. 26 at the Cape Henry Lighthouse.

“I’m just extremely grateful to live where we live and have the bay as a place where I can paddle, fish, crab or just sit and enjoy the view,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to take care of it, so let’s do everything we can.”