Lifeguard Goes to Great Lengths on Paddleboard
Larry Capune, as far as anyone seems to know, is the only long-distance paddleboarder around.
His exploits over the last 23 years have included paddleboarding journeys from Portland, Me., to Corpus Christi, Tex., and from Vancouver, Canada, to San Diego. A San Francisco-to-Newport Beach jaunt nearly 20 years ago was one of his shorter hops.
Next month, the 44-year-old Balboa Island lifeguard will be at it again.
Capune plans to climb aboard his paddleboard in early May for a trip from Chicago to Washington as part of a personal campaign to discourage young people from using drugs. He sees it as a way of showing them there are other ways to have fun.
The 4,000-mile odyssey to Washington is expected to last into October, Capune says. It will start in Lake Michigan and take him through Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, up the St. Lawrence River, through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and into the Atlantic Ocean. His final destination is Chesapeake Bay.
“When I see that big White House, I’ll know I am finished,” he said.
On a paddleboard, Capune is in his element. He made seven similar long-distance trips between 1964 and 1983. His last marathon journey was three years ago when he paddled from Vancouver to San Diego. During these trips, he says, he has been brushed by sharks and bitten by a turtle. An angry pier owner once split his scalp open with a thrown bottle, and another time he held up a missile firing in an Air Force test range.
Capune usually finances his trips on a shoestring. This time, he estimates that his total expenses will run about $18,000. That was a problem until one recent afternoon when Capune ran into an unexpected benefactor.
Near Collision
He was on a paddleboard in the ocean, Capune said, thinking of his financial state and “feeling pretty bad” when he nearly crashed into Dick Gebhard, who was paddling on a giant ski board toward his Laguna Beach home. Capune introduced himself, and Gebhard recognized his name.
The two men talked. Capune told Gebhard about his plans and about their purpose.
Gebhard, 36, the president of a landscaping company, was impressed and agreed to come up with $5,000 to help sponsor Capune’s trip.
“A landscaping company sponsoring a surfer,” Gebhard said Tuesday while handing over the check. “I know it’s ridiculous.”
The majority of Capune’s modest income (he says he grossed about $11,400 last year) comes from anti-drug speeches he gives at local schools. He presents slide presentations of his previous trips and tries to impress on his young audiences that a healthy, drug-free life has its own rewards.
He charges $90 to $300 for the speaking appearances and says it’s a challenge persuading school officials to pay for his services.
“It’s a tough sell,” he admitted. “I may drive around to 40 schools before I get one school. And I think I make much more of an impact than the puppet people. I just ran into a guy who is 28 years old, and he remembered me and what I had to say.”
Gebhard said that Capune was at his 10-year-old son’s school nearly two years ago and that the boy hasn’t forgotten him. It was because of something his son had said that he recognized Capune’s name when they met.
“My son saw a recent article about Larry, and he brought it to me,” Gebhard said. “He remembered everything Larry had talked about.”
That, said Gebhard, is what persuaded him to sponsor Capune’s journey.
“After I met Larry last Saturday, he told me that he didn’t have enough money,” Gebhard said. “I thought this was just ludicrous. If my son can still remember his message, two years later, Larry is making an impact, and he deserves help.”
Gebhard is not the only financial supporter behind Capune’s latest crusade. Ocean Pacific, the Georgia Peanut Commission and surfboard manufacturer Hobi Alter are donating amounts ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 each.
When he begins his journey between May 5 and 7 in Chicago, Capune will be aboard his 23-year-old paddleboard with a knapsack and a compass. He plans to paddle, with his arms, between 15 and 47 miles a day. Evenings he will spend with his twin brother, Marty, in motels. Marty Capune will drive the route and film most of the trip.
Capune said he has always loved the beach and his job as a lifeguard.
‘Can’t Afford to Move’
“People ask me how I can live here,” he said, gesturing toward his trendy Balboa Island neighborhood. “But I’ve lived here since 1967, and right now I can’t afford to move.”
He explained that he pays reduced rent because he helps his landlady with chores.
Capune lives a spartan life in the tiny apartment. He says he practically lives on peanut butter, tuna fish and macaroni-and-cheese dinners.
He never married because it is “just too expensive,” he said. “Besides, I’ve gone through fathers who have said, ‘You may like my daughter, but . . . you’re a lifeguard.’ ”
He admits that to some people the idea of a 44-year-old lifeguard may be a bit ridiculous. “People ask me all of the time, ‘Why don’t you get a REAL job?’ I had no idea my life was going to be like this. But if showing kids a good example is not a real job, then what is?”