Lin and Larry Pardey

Last updated

Lin Pardey (born 1944) and Larry Pardey (1939-2020) are sailors and writers, known for their small boat sailing. [1] They coined the phrase, "Go Small, Go Simple, but Go Now", and have been called the "Enablers" as their example encouraged many others to set sail despite limited incomes. The Pardeys sailed over 200,000 miles together, circumnavigating the world both east-about and west-about, [2] and have published numerous books on sailing. The boats they sailed during these circumnavigations were engine-free.

Contents

Early life

Larry was born October 31, 1939, in Victoria, British Columbia, and Lin was born 1944 in Detroit, Michigan. [3] Larry Pardey met Lin Zatkin in May 1965 in California. [4] The couple married in 1968. [5]

Sailing voyages

The Pardeys have sailed, contrary to the prevailing wind, past all the great southern capes, including Cape Horn. Larry and Lin built the two boats they used for two circumnavigations; both were under 30 feet and were designed by Lyle Hess. Neither boat had an engine. [6] [7] [8]

Larry also was one of the first people to sail across the Sahara in 1967. In an expedition organized by the French Colonel de Buchett and sponsored by National Geographic among others, he captained a North American team of three, including Richard Arthur and Warren Zeibarth, as they sailed land yachts from Colum Bechar in Algeria to Noachott in Mauritania, a distance of approximately 1700 miles. [9] For this, each was awarded the Mauritanian Legion of Honor. [10] In 1974, he joined 67-year-old Leslie Dyball to take handicap honors in the bi-annual Round Britain and Ireland two-handed race onboard the 30-foot S&S sloop Chough. [11]

Larry started his sailing career at age 17 in North Vancouver where he restored an El Toro dinghy and became a member of the West Vancouver Yacht Club. He quickly became proficient in racing and purchased then restored a 28-foot Tumlaren sloop, Annalisa. His skills led to him being asked to instruct others in the art of racing and also to lead the junior sailing program. In 1964, he sold Annalisa and went to California in search of an affordable cruising boat. He instead signed as first mate on the 85-foot schooner, Double Eagle, and sailed to Hawaii on a movie-making charter. On his return, he obtained a job skippering a 54-foot charter ketch and at the same time began building his first cruising boat, Seraffyn. Five months into this project, he met Lin Zatkin, who was completely new to sailing. She soon joined him to finish building what became their first cruising boat. Together, they eventually sailed more than 200,000 miles, including both an east about and west about circumnavigation. To earn their way, they delivered boats, restored boats and worked as riggers. Eventually, Lin's writing skills began adding significantly to their cruising funds. Larry began writing practical articles and after about 15 years of cruising, writing and presenting seminars covering their cruising costs.

In 1985, during a voyage to New Zealand, the two purchased a distressed small boatyard and cottage on Kawau Island, 30 miles north of Auckland. This became their home base but did not stop them from voyaging onward. In total, they voyaged together for 40 of the 51 years they spent together.

Later life

In 2009, the Pardeys made their last ocean passage together from California to Tonga and New Zealand. Larry had already developed Parkinson's disease by this time.[ citation needed ] Thus, their cruising was confined to the coast of New Zealand. In 2016, with Larry no longer able to move without assistance, Lin sold their 29'9" Hess cutter, Taleisin, to a young New Zealand couple who, within two years, voyaged to Tonga and continued to live on board her once back in New Zealand. Larry went into an assisted living facility in 2017. Lin continued sailing as crew of Sahula, a steel Van de Stadt cutter owned by David Haigh, a retired environmental law lecturer who was completing an 11-year circumnavigation. During the next years, between visits back to ensure Larry was getting the best possible care, she logged another 20,000 miles voyaging to Fiji, Vanuatu and along the coast of Australia and south of Tasmania to return to her home in New Zealand.

Larry died on July 27, 2020. [4]

Friends of Larry Pardey contributed to a fund to create a Memorial Observatory and Shelter area at Camp Bentzon, directly across the cove from the home Larry and Lin built on Kawau Island. Over 5,000 school children visit this non-denominational outdoor recreation facility for week-long adventure programs. This was dedicated in April 2022 with a plaque that reads:

Larry's place – outdoors, warm and friendly

Made possible by friends of Larry Pardey

Now in 2024 a she approaches her 80th year, Lin continues to voyage and adventure with David Haigh, sailing from New Zealand to New Caledonia then on to Vanuatu during the southern hemisphere winter of 2023. She is currently working on a new book called Passages,: Cape Horn and Beyond to be published in late 2024, the 7th in her cruising narrative series, and 13th book of her career.

Publications

Together, Lin and Larry have written twelve books and created five instructional DVD programs. Parts of these programs have been aired on PBS television.

Lin has written two additional books under her own name and published three maritime titles for other authors.

In January 2014, As Long as It's Fun: The Epic Voyages and Extraordinary Times of Lin and Larry Pardey, a biography written by Herb McCormick, was released by Paradise Cay Publications. [12]

Awards

The Cruising Club of America awarded their 2009 Far Horizon Award to Lin and Larry in recognition of their combined voyaging on board many boats covering mileage totaling more than 200,000 for Larry and about 194,000 for Lin and doing so in a manner that is consistent with the goals of the CCA. [6] They were presented with the SSCA award from the Seven Seas Cruising Association in recognition of their contributions to the sport of sailing and the cruising community – only the 16th time in the club's 60-year history the award has been presented.

Bibliography

Books

VHS tapes

DVD

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cruising (maritime)</span> Traveling by boat for pleasure

Cruising is a maritime activity that involves staying aboard a watercraft for extended periods of time when the vessel is traveling on water at a steady speed. Cruising generally refers to leisurely trips on yachts and luxury cruiseships, with durations varying from day-trips to months-long round-the-world voyages.

Harry Clifford Pidgeon was an American sailor, a noted photographer, and was the second person to sail single-handedly around the world (1921-1925), 23 years after Joshua Slocum. Pidgeon was the first person to sail a yacht around the world via the Panama Canal and the Cape of Good Hope, the first person to solo-circumnavigate by way of the Panama Canal, and the first person to solo circumnavigate the world twice. On both voyages, he sailed a 34-foot yawl named Islander, which Pidgeon built himself on a beach in Los Angeles. Prior to his first trip, Pidgeon had no sailing experience and was referred to in the press as the "Library Navigator". He accounts for his adventure in his book, Around the World Single-Handed: The Cruise of the "Islander" (1932).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alec Rose</span> British sailor (1908–1991)

Sir Alec Rose was a nursery owner and fruit merchant in England who, after serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, developed a passion for amateur single-handed sailing. He took part in the second single-handed Atlantic race in 1964 and circumnavigated the globe single-handedly in 1967–68, for which he was knighted. His boat Lively Lady is still seaworthy and is used for sail training by a charity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Knox-Johnston</span> British yacht racer (born 1939)

Sir William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston is a British sailor. In 1969, he became the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe. Along with Sir Peter Blake, he won the second Jules Verne Trophy, for which they were also named the ISAF Yachtsman of the Year award. In 2007, at the age of 67, he set a record as the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pocket cruiser</span> Sailboat

A pocket cruiser is a sailboat designed for recreational cruising and club racing, under 30 feet (9 m) in length.

Minoru Saitō(斉藤 実, born January 7, 1934) is a Japanese solo yachtsman and one of the most notable veteran ocean sailboat racers in the world. He became the oldest person at age 77 to do a solo circumnavigation of the globe. He has successfully made eight solo circumnavigations.

Dame Naomi Christine James, DBE is the first woman to have sailed single-handed around the world via Cape Horn, the second woman to have ever sailed solo around the world. She departed Dartmouth, Devon on 9 September 1977 and finished her voyage around the globe on 8 June 1978 after 272 days, thus improving Sir Francis Chichester's solo round-the-world sailing record by two days.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Moitessier</span> French sailor and writer

Bernard Moitessier was a French sailor, most notable for his participation in the 1968 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, the first non-stop, singlehanded, round the world yacht race. With the fastest circumnavigation time towards the end of the race, Moitessier was the likely winner for the fastest voyage, but he elected to continue on to Tahiti and not return to the start line in England, rejecting the idea of the commercialization of long distance sailing. He was a French national born and raised in Vietnam, then part of French Indochina.

The sport and practice of single-handed sailing or solo sailing is sailing with only one crewmember. The term usually refers to ocean and long-distance sailing and is used in competitive sailing and among cruisers.

<i>Sunday Times</i> Golden Globe Race Yacht race from 1968–1969

The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was a non-stop, single-handed, round-the-world yacht race, held in 1968–1969, and was the first round-the-world yacht race. The race was controversial due to the failure of most competitors to finish the race and because of the apparent suicide of one entrant; however, it ultimately led to the founding of the BOC Challenge and Vendée Globe round-the-world races, both of which continue to be successful and popular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contessa 26</span> Fiberglass monohull sailboat

The Contessa 26 is a 7.77 meter (25.6 ft) fiberglass monohull sailboat, brought about when Jeremy Rogers, with a background in traditional wooden boatbuilding along with one of his Folkboat customers, David Sadler, created a modified version of the same boat in glass reinforced plastic (GRP). Rigged as a masthead sloop, with a deep keel and a hull-mounted rudder, the Contessa 26 was launched in 1966 and early boats proved to be very successful racers, including long-distance events. Jeremy Rogers Limited went on to produce the Contessa 32.

<i>Yaahting</i> Boating magazine parody

Yaahting: A Parody was a 1984 parody of the boating magazine genre, most notably Yachting. It was published by Dreadnaught Publishing, a short lived Massachusetts based company. The main publishing staff were: Elizabeth Meyer, Publisher; Nathaniel Philbrick, Editor-in-chief; Peter Gow, Executive Editor; William Gotha, Design Director; and Bob Payne, Advertising Coordinator.

Edward Conor Marshall O'Brien was an Irish aristocrat and intellectual. His views were republican and nationalist. He was also owner and captain of one of the first boats to sail under the tri-colour of the Irish Free State. He was the first amateur Irish sailor to sail around the world.

Hal Roth was an American sailor and author. In 1971 he was awarded the Blue Water Medal of the Cruising Club of America. He died of lung cancer.

Eric Charles Hiscock was a British sailor and author of books on small boat sailing and ocean cruising. Together with his wife and crew Susan Oakes Hiscock, he authored numerous accounts of their short cruises and world circumnavigations, accomplished over several decades. His works also include several technical how-to books on sailing and ocean cruising and a film made on board Wanderer III entitled Beyond The West Horizon.

Evans Starzinger and Beth Leonard are among the leading blue water cruising sailors today.

Solo is an Australian ex-ocean racing yacht, winning over 80 races during her eight-year racing career, all on the east coast of Australia. Solo has circumnavigated the world three times, circumnavigated Australia twice and was charted for two Antarctic expeditions. All of these achievements plus many more have earned her the title "The lady of the sea".

Lyle C. Hess (1912–2002) was an American naval architect, particularly known for his Aquarius and Balboa series of boats, built by Coastal Recreation.

Matthew Rutherford is a sailor, best known for his 2011 solo circumnavigation of the Americas in a 27-foot Albin Vega designed sloop called the St. Brendan.

Lisa Blair is an Australian solo sailor who holds multiple world records. She is also an advocate for climate change, which she promotes through her Climate Action Now project. She has written a book, Facing Fear, about her first attempt at circumnavigating Antarctica solo on her yacht Climate Action Now.

References

  1. Sandomir, Richard (28 August 2020). "Larry Pardey, Mariner Who Sailed the World Engineless, Dies at 80". The New York Times.
  2. Duncan Wells (12 March 2015). Stress-free Sailing: Single and Short-handed Techniques. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 122–. ISBN   978-1-4729-1974-8.
  3. "Lin & Larry - The Cold Hard Facts (bio)". Archived from the original on 22 August 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  4. 1 2 Sandomir, Richard (28 August 2020). "Larry Pardey, Mariner Who Sailed the World Engineless, Dies at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  5. McCormick, Herb (30 July 2020). "A Giant Felled: Two-time Circumnavigator Larry Pardey (1939-2020)". Cruising World.
  6. 1 2 3 Cruising Club of America (21 January 2010). "2009 Far Horizons Award to Lin and Larry Pardey" . Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  7. Herb McCormick (15 April 2014). As Long as It's Fun: The Epic Voyages and Extraordinary Times of Lin and Larry Pardey. Paradise Cay Publications. pp. 50–. ISBN   978-1-929214-98-3.
  8. John Vigor (1 August 2005). Things I Wish I'd Known Before I Started Sailing. Sheridan House. pp. 55–. ISBN   978-1-57409-338-4.
  9. "What is Landyachting?". York Landyacht Club. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  10. "Larry Pardey". Goodreads. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  11. "RBI History - the third RBI". The Royal Western Yacht Club of England. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  12. McCormack, Herb (15 April 2014). As Long as it's Fun : The Epic Voyages and Extraordinary Times of Lin and Larry Pardey. Paradise Cay Publications. p. 280. ISBN   9781929214983 . Retrieved 16 December 2018.