‘I stuck it out because I told the kids I was going to make it.’ : 4,090 Miles on a Paddleboard

After guiding his paddleboard through 4,090 miles of shifting winds and frigid waterways, Larry Capune of Newport Beach brought his marathon 165-day journey to an end Thursday on the shores of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.

“I’m glad it’s over . . . I’m glad it’s done and completed,” Capune said in a telephone interview from Washington. “A good 25 times during the trip, I thought about hanging it up.”

But Capune, a lifeguard and anti-drug motivational speaker at schools, said: “I stuck it out because I told the kids I was going to make it. To show the kids how to stick to something, I decided I should stick with it.”

‘Adventure Instead of Drugs’

Capune, 45, said he made the journey to show youngsters and their parents that individual effort can make a difference in the fight against drug abuse. “My message is to take an adventure instead of drugs. . . . You, yourself, can do something, if you think you can--and go for it.”

He also plans to use film of the trip in anti-drug talks he gives to Southern California schoolchildren.

On May 11, Capune began his odyssey from the Navy Pier in Chicago. He said he paddled through Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, up the St. Lawrence River through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and into the Atlantic Ocean. He then paddled down the eastern seaboard to Washington.

Capune, who is believed to be the nation’s only long-distance paddleboarder, said he chose this route “because I’d done all the rest.” The last of his seven long-distance trips took place in 1983 when he paddled from Vancouver to San Diego. His longest trip was a 4,255-mile sojourn from Maine to Texas.

During the trip, Capune said he would usually hit the water with his paddleboard before dawn and paddle for up to 11 hours a day. He said he would paddle by thrusting both hands in the water in a butterfly motion. Capune often wore a wet suit to keep warm, especially during the last month and a half.

“Winter was right behind me,” Capune said. “Today, when I arrived, it was 47 degrees, and the wind was northwest at 10 m.p.h. With the wind-chill factor, it was close to freezing. . . . It was like playing in the snow with your clothes off.”

At night, he and his twin brother, Marty, who came along to provide logistical support and to film the trip, stayed in Coast Guard stations, firehouses or with families they met along the way. But about 40% of the time, they couldn’t find overnight accommodations and ended up sleeping in their 1970 Volkswagen bus.

The trip was often gut-wrenching, Capune said. East of Cleveland, he was hit by a water spout, or twister. Last July, in the widest part of the St. Lawrence River, he ran into a massive storm.

“The rains were heavy; the winds kept changing and it was lightning,” Capune said. “There was nothing I could do because I was five miles out in the middle of the river.

“I couldn’t see land, and my visibility was zip. . . . I started paddling using a compass heading due east and ran into the side of tanker. . . . I thought it was the river bank, but when I hit it, I realized it was a big wall of steel.”

Capune, who was not injured, added: “No, nobody on the ship saw what happened. . . . It was like a tennis ball hitting the Wall of China. Who’d ever notice?”

Capune believes that he succeeded in spreading his anti-drug message during his trip. He received newspaper, radio and television coverage wherever he went. “Parents could pick up the newspaper, read about what I was doing and get some unsolicited ammunition to show their kids that, ‘Hey, look at what this guy is doing. You can do something.’ ”

He also spoke at 11 different schools along the route. Capune, who normally charges between $90 and $300 for his speaking appearances, charged for only one of those talks.

“They offered to pay the fee, and I had to come back 80 miles,” Capune said. “I got $90 for being there from 11 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon.”

The trip cost about $18,000, Capune said. About $4,000 of this was from his savings, and most of the rest came from donations from businesses. The largest contribution was $5,000 from Dick Gebhard, president of a Mission Viejo landscaping firm. Gebhard has said he was impressed with an anti-drug talk Capune gave at his son’s elementary school.

Other contributions came from Ocean Pacific, the Georgia Peanut Commission and surfboard manufacturer Hobi Alter. They donated amounts ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 each.

Capune said he plans to return to Newport Beach next Friday.