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Next to negotiating the notorious Cape Horn or circumnavigating the world in an engine-free sailboat, you’d think writing your memoir would be relatively smooth sailing.
However, Kawau Island author Lin Pardey says writing her latest book, ‘Passages: Cape Horn and
Beyond’, was one the toughest challenges she’s faced, as it’s a deeply personal account of her last years with late husband Larry Pardey, who had Parkinson’s.
“It was a hard one to write. Normally sailing books take me five or six months, but this one was very emotional. I spent over two and a half years on it.”
Pardey was encouraged to write her memoir by David Haigh, who is her present partner, a retired university professor and also a sailor.
“He said, ‘Lin you’ve got to tell the whole story, don’t hide anything.’ Being candid and vulnerable made it very difficult, but it also helped me say farewell to Larry and the life we shared. He would’ve wanted me to move on,” she says.
Originally from the United States, Pardey met Larry Pardey, a Canadian, in California in 1965, and over the subsequent years the couple sailed over 200,000 nautical miles as a two-person crew.
“It’s a long time we spent together, especially being so closely connected with just the two of us on the water. People always found it interesting that we could live together 24/7 on a 24-foot sailboat.”
Dedicated to Larry, ‘Passages: Cape Horn and Beyond’ has just been released by Paradise Cay Publications, is the seventh in her cruising narrative series, and 13th book of her career.
“My previous books were based fully on the sailing adventures. But in this one, it’s a true memoir. It’s about watching your hero fade.”
Pardey says her story could help a lot of people, particularly those looking at transitions in their lives, but the book’s also got some of her best sailing writing.
“I wrote about the adventures and triumphs we had together, who we were as sailors, and why we ended up having a home in New Zealand – why that long-term retreat was so important as we continued our voyaging life,” she says.
In the book Pardey talks about her voyage to New Zealand in 1985 with Larry – how the pair anchored at North Cove, decided to stay and ended up purchasing a rundown cottage and jetty on the island.
“If you saw the house that we built for ourselves on Kawau, you’d laugh because it’s only 600 square feet.”
It may be a modest home, but it embodies Lin and Larry Pardey’s famous phrase, “Go small, go simple, but go now.”
Available at Post Shop Warkworth, Matakana Village Books, Boat Books (22 Westhaven Drive, Auckland) and online.
For a chance to win a copy of ‘Passages: Cape Horn and Beyond’, email your name and number to editor@localmatters.co.nz by Wednesday, December 18.
