Eight Bells for Cruising Legend Larry Pardey

This week we lost an old friend and a man, in partnership with his wife Lin, who inspired literally a generation of dreamers to live out their dreams of sailing and cruising all over the world.  They made multiple circumnavigations aboard their classic wood cruising boats Seraffyn and Taleisin, both of which Larry built by hand. Both were works of art. The books and videos they produced during their long careers as voyaging authors continue to be best sellers and are on the bookshelves of just about every English speaker cruiser around the world. Their advice to cruisers to “Go small and go now” rings as true today as it ever did. Lin posted the note below on her Facebook page on Monday.
“We were put on this earth to help each other.” A few weeks ago, I was on the phone with Mike Anderson, who once asked Larry for a hand on a boat restoration project. I’d asked Mike. “When you think of Larry, what is the first thing that comes to mind?” He hadn’t hesitated, “It was the answer he gave when I tried to thank him.” Last night, Larry died peacefully at the rest home where he has been cared for over the past year since suffering a major stroke. He is now at peace after several years of suffering from Parkinson’s and Parkinsonian dementia. His memory will always be with me not only because he was a wonderful partner, lover and husband but also because, if anyone can be said to have gained the most from the generous help he was always ready to offer, it was me. With the current Covid-19 preventing international travel, he will be cremated tomorrow after a quiet ceremony. A celebration of his life will bring as many of his friends together as possible at the end of October. Should you like to help keep his memory alive, you can make a small donation to help maintain and expand the Larry Pardey Memorial Observatory at the childrens camp here at Kawau Island.
You can find the postal to make a donation on Lin’s Facebook page here.