Steve Gariepy, the event organizer for the first two Breaking the Surface paddle events, descends the steps of a shed Tuesday near the beach at Touch of Nature Environmental Center in Makanda. He said he enjoys taking the 34-foot Voyageur canoe on the lake because it has room for many different types of people. He said everyone in the boat has to work together to paddle it. “Something I’m always working toward is getting humans to work together and looking beyond their differences to try to make this world a better place,” he said. “There’s a little bit of kumbaya in everything I do.”