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Pontoon captain sails 5,500 miles for charity
The voyage was taken to raise awareness and money for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay.
In June, Darren Hayes left Tierra Verde Marina Resort in St. Petersburg on a 22-foot pontoon boat for a 5,500 mile solo journey.
The trip ended Sept. 12 at the same location after Hayes, 41, spent 94 days on the water. He celebrated the achievement at a welcome home party at the Island Grille & Raw Bar in St. Pete Sept. 27.
Hayes was able to travel around the Great Loop, a route of waterways in the Eastern and Central United States including the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Great Lakes, Erie Canal and Mississippi River.
The “Makin’ Wake” initiative was an effort to raise awareness and money for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay, which provides families of sick children with a complimentary place to live during medical treatments as well as meals and additional resources.
More than $12,000 was donated for the organization during Hayes’ trip. This will make a difference for over a thousand families, he said.
The borrowed, 22-foot pontoon boat that took Darren Hayes on his 5,500-mile journey. Hayes is behind the wheel in this image, taking it for a test drive. Screengrab, Makin’ Wake video.
Throughout the trip, Hayes used social media platforms to update his followers. For the professional boat captain, the experience was about making connections.
Spending hours in the heat driving the pontoon every day, Hayes would often dock it at marinas in the evenings. This allowed him to engage with other boaters and local community members.
“To see some smiling and welcoming faces that you didn’t expect was kind of a relief at the end of my night, and it really did make the trip for me,” he said.
The magnitude of the journey attracted attention at the various stopping points, Hayes added.
“Just to see people in shock, that this is what we’re doing and this is why we’re doing it, and for them to be inspired by this trip meant a lot.”
Early during the voyage, Hayes learned about the story of a young girl from Indiana named Birdie Rey Grezenko. Weighing only one pound and 10 ounces at birth, she received life-saving treatment at the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis – and recently celebrated her second birthday.
Young Birdie Rey’s mother shared her health journey via social media, and this inspired Hayes to name the pontoon after her.
“We had the opportunity to interview her family and get the backstory and share that with people,” he said. “So, it was very gratifying for us to name our boat after this strong little person.”
Hayes has completed large-scale trips for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tampa Bay and Riley Children’s Foundation in the past. He drove a John Deere tractor from Florida to Michigan in 2013. The following year, he traveled across 48 states in a 1948 Ford.
He is currently exploring opportunities for future journeys.
“Actually, we have five different options that followers suggested,” Hayes said. “We’re looking at things logistically and financially, as well as what’s going to help us be in the spotlight on a more consistent basis than this trip.”
It is all about doing something memorable that people will not forget, he explained. “You can do things that are a little crazy, outlandish and uncomfortable.”
