LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — Hundreds of paddleboarders on Sunday finished an 82-mile journey from Bimini to Lake Worth Beach for a good cause.
It was part of the annual event to raise awareness and money for cystic fibrosis.
WATCH BELOW: Paddleboarders make 82-mile journey from Bimini
The participants told WPTV that each year it's the hardest thing they've ever done.
"The X factor is the ocean," said participant Rob Glassman. "You never know what you're gonna get."
The paddleboarders slowly came ashore with the waves, paddling the whole journey in a matter of hours.
"To come in and to paddle across an ocean on this wavy day, there's just something that we've never done before," said participant Devon Schell. "Eighty miles is no small feat, so to do that together, it was a really cool experience."
Some of the paddleboarders made the crossing alone, but most were part of a relay team.
They said the pain, the stress and the journey, while difficult, was all worth it for a good cause.
Some, like WPTV's Kate Wentzel, it wasn't their first time accomplishing the feat.
"It's like a miracle every time it happens," Wentzel said. "When you're 80 miles away and you see that big scary dark ocean, and we're on our paddle boards, and it's like, 'This isn't humanly possible, is it?' But it is. It takes everybody on the boat on the team to make it happen."
"It's beautiful," said Tatiana Tims with Pipers Angels, the organization that put on the event. "It's a really moving event, and I think it speaks volumes that the last two years we've had to postpone the event because of weather issues, because of things out of our control, and yet, still, people come back every single year to participate and to take apart in a cause bigger than themselves.
"It really was amazing for us to be a part of it, and it's so educational for us as well," said participant Matt Brown. "I mean, I don't think any of us really went into this knowing too much about cystic fibrosis, and now we've come away from it, and we're like, wow, there's what a supportive community that is there, and how we want to be a part of it."
Many of the paddleboarders told WPTV that the first thing they wanted to do now that they're back on land is to get a beer, a cheeseburger and a lot of sleep.
