I remember one day during the summer when he had just received a new paddle board from Hobie. The board was about 15′ long, hollow and had a rudder! Hobie and Larry had designed the board for his long distance paddling.

Larry needed a little weight for a good workout. I was about 7-8 years old at the time, he eyed me up and down and said you’ll do. He took me, placed me on the front of the board and we paddled around the island, down to the bay club and back to the ferry. What shape that guy was in!

I often wondered what happened to Larry. He truly was a Balboa icon.

We’ll miss you Larry,

Joseph Miner Jr.

I used to paddle every day from Wood’s Cove in Laguna Beach to Abalone Point and back. Craig Lockwood got me started on it back in the early eighties. One day Craig took a few of us up to Balboa to meet Larry. I remember helping Larry carry his projector and film reel from his little studio apartment that he was paying fifty dollars a month for. We set it up in the street, waited for dark, and then watched Breaking Away with about forty-five other people I didn’t know.

Larry and I paddled together a few times after that. He used to show me his news clippings of his adventures and he would tell me the story about receiving words of encouragement from Rose Kennedy one stormy night when he was just about to throw in the towel on one of his east coast journeys.

I would still run in to Larry just cruising around the island from time to time up until about 1989. That’s when I moved further south, and then only frequented the island maybe once or twice a year. I paddle just as seldom these days. But when I think of peanut butter, I think of that tub that Larry always had strapped to the nose of his board, and how Larry always told me that peanut butter was the perfect source of food energy for long paddles.

After swallowing the last bite of my sandwich, I decided to go on the Internet to see if I could find any evidence of Larry and his antics. To my sad surprise I found nothing but obituaries in his honor, dated nearly three years prior.

Larry was an odd character: a loner, yet a friend to many. He was a little bit competition and a big bit inspiration. He was a teacher, a motivational speaker (before there was such a thing), a maverick and a pioneer. He new something about life that most people will never know exists, and yet he shared those secrets with anyone who would take the time to listen. The next time you have a PB&J, listen… and you just may hear Larry Capune.

His antics introduced me to the notion that Adults could enjoy Jackassery as much as I did as a
child…maybe more.
Real adventure is all over the world and is waiting for who-ever wan’t to tap it.

His thoughts and logic became the foundation for much of my own questioning of the norm, and
idea that I could go and do what I want.

Since then, I have lived in Remote parts of Austrailia with Aboriginals, gone down the Amazon,
and run an ultra-marathon.

Though I hadn’t seen him in over 30 years, his death struck me hard. I hope his life planted seeds in
other people who have gone out and experianced life, and I hope those people can show others to do the same.

Cheers to you!

Thanks for the fortitude you showed me I had.

Paul Anderson