Newport Beach Mayor Joe Stapleton was one of 132 paddlers who crossed the channel from Catalina to his hometown Saturday where hundreds of cheering well-wishers greeted them along the south side of the pier.

The occasion was the 10th edition of Ben Did Go 30-mile endurance paddle to honor the legacy of the late Ben Carlson, a Newport Beach lifeguard who on July 6, 2014, lost his life saving a swimmer.

A year later, Carlson's friend Spencer Pirdy, a fellow lifeguard, started the group endurance paddle to raise funds on behalf of the Ben Carlson Memorial & Scholarship Foundation.

This was Stapleton's first year participating in the Ben Did Go charity paddle event, he said.

"Friends involved in the organization were always saying, 'You should do it.' My response was, 'If I'm ever the mayor of Newport, I'll commit to doing it,'" Stapleton recalled.

"The reality is Newport really came out big for Ben Carlson, the only Newport Beach lifeguard to drown, who was a true hero and with a 120-year history of our city, Ben is the only lifeguard we have lost in the line of duty. He paid the ultimate sacrifice rescuing and saving someone else," Stapleton said. "I did it because I wanted to support the Ben Carlson Foundation and support the legacy of Ben."

Since the organization is all about water safety, participating in the paddle event was an extensive endeavor that required three, 15-mile qualifying paddle trips. Each person who qualified for the main event was asked to raise $2,000 for the cause.

Stapleton, who had never been on a paddle board prior to this year, began training five months ago, putting in a total of 452 miles in the course of 50 paddles.

"Standing on the the beach, staring at Catalina after living here 20 years, I now feel a sense of accomplishment knowing I made the journey from Catalina to Newport Beach on a prone board," Stapleton said. "It was a spiritual journey for me, being one with the water. I really enjoyed that aspect."

He reported feeling totally at home and comfortable Saturday after having put in the training. "I was never in pain, felt good the whole time and there was no doubt that I would finish. I also told too many people [I was going to do it] so I had to finish, since they would hold me accountable."

Newport Fire Chief Jeff Boyles, who said he always looks forward to being on the shoreline each year to welcome the paddlers as they come in, wanted this year to be more than involved than simply being a spectator. After asking Stapleton if he needed anybody to help out on the mayor's support boat -- each group of six paddlers is assigned to a vessel with three crew members -- the fire chief landed the volunteer job.

"The paddlers need people on the boat to hand them full water bottles, sandwiches, power bars," said Boyles. "It's a busy, busy time tossing full water bottles and sandwiches and trying to exchange the empties to keep trash from the ocean."

After hearing from the close-knit community of paddlers about how their experience became a spiritual and emotional connection, Chief Boyles stated the event is not only "a test of stamina, endurance and grit but it's an emotional connection to a community. A community of people who share a love for the ocean and a passion to protect others. I couldn't be more proud to serve a small part of the growing togetherness the Ben Carlson legacy brings to ocean minded cultures all around the world."

At the end of the day, the Ben Carlson Memorial & Scholarship Foundation had raised $450,000, significantly surpassing its fundraising goal of $300,000. Of that tidy sum, Stapleton, the mayor who had never been on a paddle board before last spring, raised $26,000 on his own.

This year's Ben Did Go 30-mile paddle from Catalina welcomed a newbie, the mayor of Newport Beach