Another Singer/Sailor Crosses the Bar: Gordon Lightfoot 1938-2023

Just four months ago we heard the news that singer/sailor David Crosby had crossed the bar. He died at 81, leaving behind a legacy of music that spanned more than just his generation. When we learned this week that Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot had died on May 1, we were immediately thrown into humming his tune “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” The 1976 release was written about the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank during a storm on November 10, 1975, in Lake Superior. The song is surely known by most sailors (this writer recalls it coming to mind while experiencing her first storm at sea). But what may not be as well known is that Lightfoot himself was a sailor, and after the success of his ninth studio album — Sundown (1974), which hit Number One on the Canadian and US charts — he told reporters at the Detroit Free Press that he would now like to buy a sailboat.

“I would now like to spend more time with each album, each song, and I would also like to get a sailing yacht. Not for competitive sailing, I’m a cruiser. But that’s going to take a lot of time. I’ve got to study navigation and things like that,” the article quotes.

With that newfound knowledge, we set off to learn more about this musician, who, it now appears, was also a sailor. According to a piece we found on Lightfoot’s website, the singer had in his time owned more than one boat. “It was the summer of 1976 when Gordon Lightfoot decided it was time to have the halyards quieted down on his stock 39-footer. The cacaphony they raised when they whacked against the aluminum spar was a bit too much for the ears of this Canadian folksinger, who said he was tired of fiddling around with his old boat.” Understandable. What happened next led him to replace the fiberglass-hulled boat with a wood boat.

Lightfoot had engaged the talents of boat designer Victor Carpenter, who worked under the name Superior Sailboats, to solve his noise problem. In doing so the pair struck up a true sailors’ relationship — they raced each other aboard their current boats: Lightfoot’s 39-ft Sundown, and Carpenter’s 28-ft mahogany-hulled O-Race.

Lightfoot was impressed, and upon returning to shore he looked over Carpenter’s plans for a 45-ft model of the mahogany hull that he had designed some years ago, but never built. “You wouldn’t buy a fiberglass guitar, would you?” Carpenter reportedly shot at Lightfoot as the pair discussed fiberglass versus wood. By the time they were done, Lightfoot had ordered his new sailboat, built of wood, for an “undisclosed sum.” The boat would be called Golden Goose. A little ostentatious perhaps, but if one can, then, why not?

Aside from owning and sailing his boat, Lightfoot drew upon the seafaring life for inspiration for other songs, each of which, in its own small or larger way, reflects some of the nuances of sailing. They include “The Sea of Tranquility,” “Christian Island (Georgian Bay),” “Ghosts of Cape Horn,” and “Ballad of Yarmouth Castle.” We recommend looking them up on YouTube, the Ballad of Yarmouth Castle in particular, as it has a lilting, sailorly vibe that wooden boat aficionados may enjoy.

We realize Lighfoot’s music may not appeal to all audiences, as evidenced by a letter to the editor in Latitude 38‘s January 2012 issue. But personal preferences aside, it’s been an interesting journey learning about Gordon Lightfoot, the singer, songwriter, and mariner. Fair winds, sailor.