Lin Pardey Is Back at Sea (and She Has Joined the Cannon Crew)

Agrees With Solo-Sailor Coverage

Peter Swanson Mar 22

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The Grand Dame of bluewater sailing has weighed in on the controversial issue of solo sailing. And Lin Pardey put her money where he mouth is. Pardey didn’t have to subscribe to Loose Cannon to connect, but maybe she felt having paid status would help get our attention:

The reason I paid you for a sub was so I could send you a note—so will repeat here—I so so agreed with your post about the legal pitfalls of singlehanding. I have often wanted to write something similar, but several of my best friends crossed oceans on their own for various reasons, and my current partner did the same before we met so…Keep up the good work. And wish me luck as I begin my Substack journey. So far getting a nice number of readers. I am not good about asking for money, but hope more folks will add to my cruising kitty.

Yes, Pardey is voyaging again with her new beau, and she is writing about it on her Go Now! Substack newsletter. The other half of the famous partnership, her late husband Larry, died in 2020. Lin Pardey is 82.

A recent pair of stories about the pitfalls of singlehanding received a lot of reader pushback, which Loose Cannon described as cult-like devotion to the notion.

The Cult of the Solo-Sailor Peter Swanson   ·   Mar 9 Read full story

The Pardey’s themselves have been controversial as they promoted their philosophy of engineless (and toiletless) ocean voyaging.

Christine Kling is also on Substack with Sailingwriter. This author and friend of Loose Cannon calls herself a Pardey “fan girl.” Kling once wrote:

She lives life with a grace and enthusiasm that the years have not dimmed. Her laughter is infectious and all that personality comes through in her writing. For any writer who wants to understand “voice,” just read Lin’s work.

Then, there is a dissenting view from author and fellow Substacker J.R. Roessl (Out of Step) who once referred to Lin Pardey as “the Wicked Witch of the West,” based on her interactions with the Pardeys while cruising with her family as a teenager in the early 1970s. Her sailing memoir “Unmoored: Coming of Age in Troubled Waters” describes the Pardeys as self-righteous and nasty.

Sailing Memoir Recasts Larry Pardey as a Bit of a Bully Peter Swanson   ·   February 13, 2025 Read full story

The point of all this is the not-so-subtle message that Loose Cannon covers the issues and personalities in our little world of cruising with depth and nuance. The goal is to create an online environment where readers can discuss and disagree without devolving into a cage-fight.

As far as readership, free subcriptions greatly outnumber the paid, as one would expect. My goal is to keep both categories growing at the same pace. There is no paywall for the latest stories, with the hope that once people find themselves reading with regularity, they will upgrade to a paid subscription.

For example, Loose Cannon has been publishing stories for more than six years, yet there are 3,087 people who signed up in 2022 and 2023 that are still reading for free. Those who read Loose Cannon a lot should consider upgrading to paid, if they can afford to do so. (If you can’t, no problem. Share the love instead. Share stories you like with others.)

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(For example, did you know that Publix supermarket is opening a store on the Savannah waterfront with its own dock?)

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