Music is part of sailor’s GLCC adventures
Current Boat: S/V Allegro (33’ Mason)
Home Port: Bayfield, Wis. (S-192.5)
Joined GLCC: 2001
Awards: Founders Award 2019
Lifeline: You’ve traveled abroad extensively. Can you share some of your background?
Larry Carpenter: I’ve had two careers. I joined the Peace Corps right out of college and taught science for three years in West Africa (Sierra Leone). After the Peace Corps, I married my late wife, Gracie, and taught junior high math on Long Island for two years. Next, we went to a tiny island, Satawan, in Micronesia, where I taught high school science.
We then went to a small city in New Zealand, Gisborne, where I taught high school math. After five years there, we took a leave of absence so we could take our children back to spend time with our U.S.-based families.
In1978, I began thinking about changing careers. I was intrigued by the new field of software engineering, which didn’t exist when I was in college.
I enrolled in a vocational tech school full time while working rotating shifts at a glass plant and was able to get a job at MTS Systems in Eden Prairie, Minn., as a software engineer. I worked on engineering software to control systems for testing car suspensions and components, airplane structures, wave makers, and more. It was an interesting and cutting-edge field, and I stayed with MTS for 20 years.
Lifeline: How did you get into boating? What types of boats have you owned and where have you sailed?
I have always enjoyed the outdoors and exploring the wilderness. Gracie and I even canoed the Boundary Waters when our children were just 5 and 7 years old.
We got into sailing after we came back to the States. Our first boat was a 12-foot “bathtub” that I bought at a sporting goods store on which we learned to sail. We then upgraded to a Capri 14.2 and sailed the city lakes in Minneapolis. We attended the 1987 Minneapolis boat show and ended up buying a 1973 C and C 30, which we named Kiwa. That was our first keel boat, which we sailed out of Bayfield, Wis. Sadly, Gracie passed away in 1992.
In 1997, Judy and I purchased our current boat, a Mason 33 and named her Allegro. Allegro is a musical term meaning fast and sprightly.
We really enjoy wilderness cruising; it’s interesting and challenging. Our cruising takes us to the Apostle Islands but also across the lake to Isle Royale, Canada, all along the North Shore to the Slate Islands, and to Pukaskwa. It’s a pretty amazing area. We sometimes don’t see another boat for days.
I retired in 2000 and 11 days later I joined a friend, Dean Rau, another GLCC member, on his 31-foot sailboat and sailed from Bayfield, Wis., to Bergen, Norway. It took us 81 days, including several stops for crew changes, provisioning and waiting for the locks to reopen on the Erie Canal.
Crossing the Atlantic was fabulous, and it took us 14 ½ days under reasonably good conditions. What a way to start retirement!
Lifeline: What attracted you to join GLCC in 2001?
Bill and Judy Rohde, and Niels and Vicki Jensen opened our eyes to the GLCC and GLCC’s extensive Harbor Reports.
We wanted to expand our wilderness sailing on the Canadian North Shore of Lake Superior. GLCC’s Harbor Reports, Bonnie Dahl’s book, Superior Way, and help from Canadian friends provided us with the information we needed.
Lifeline: Your guitar music and vocals are enjoyed by over 1,500 GLCCSchool students each year while awaiting the start of a webinar. When did you get into music, and how did you end up (lucky for us) as the musical intro to the webinars?
I learned to play the guitar in 1962 and am self-taught. My guitar has traveled with me to Africa, Micronesia, New Zealand, China and on two Atlantic crossings. Bill Rohde had heard me play, likely at one of the potluck gatherings of our Lake Superior cruiser’s group.
I am not a songwriter. I call myself a song collector and storyteller. I find songs that I can weave into my adventurous side and also bring history into the songs.
Due to my love of the water, many of my folk songs are nautically oriented. Bill thought they would make a great addition to the GLCCSchool. The soundtrack you hear is mostly from my Across the Water and Old Voice albums.
Lifeline: You were awarded the Founders Award in 2019 for your cruising log. What’s the musical story behind how that came to be?
Niels Jensen called me regarding an article for the GLCC Lifeline (then published as a quarterly magazine). He urged me to write an article to enter for the Founders Award. I had recently written my song, Bayfield ’Cross the Lake, and thought it would make a great foundation for an article.
I expanded the song into prose and added photos to illustrate it. The article was published in GLCC’s Lifeline magazine, and then later awarded the Founders Award. (Check out the article and pictures here.)
Lifeline: Speaking of music, you have participated in the Red Rock Festival on Lake Superior for more than 20 years.
The festival is such a unique event, and Judy and I plan our cruising around it each year. It’s a three-day event that draws about 1,500 attendees every year to Red Rock, Ont., in the far northwest corner of Nipigon Bay, Lake Superior.
It’s a great, family-oriented gathering with multiple stages, but it still feels intimate. Performers range from little-known singer/songwriters to big names like James Keelaghan, Ian Tamblyn and Valdy.
We typically sail our boat from Bayfield to Red Rock and stay at the Red Rock marina. There are also camping options for tents or RVs. I have a reputation for singing nautical songs about shipwrecks, so at the festival I’m known as “Shipwreck Larry.”
Performances go on all day and into the evening, but my favorite times are the impromptu songs every night around a large campfire. It’s so wonderful to connect meaningfully with attendees from all over Canada and the U.S. I highly recommend it for anyone who will be visiting Lake Superior in early August (https://livefromtherockfolkfestival.com/).
Lifeline: What keeps you occupied in the winter?
We have six grandchildren now and love to spend time with them in the off season. Judy and I still travel quite a bit, recently in Greece and Norway, and I enjoy open mic and gig opportunities in the Twin Cities.
Of course, the biggest occupation is thinking about and getting ready for the next boating season.