THE EARLY LIFE OF GRAMPIAN 26

This is Dave Hennessy from Nashville, Indiana. In regards to Grampian Marine 26 sloops. In July 1969 I purchased G26 Hull No. 11 and picked it up at the Woody Ave. address of Grampian Marine in Oakville, Ontario.

My wife and three daughters(ages 10,11 and 15) trucked it from Oakville Ont. to Seattle Washington using the boat as a camper. A Prairie Schooner, so to speak. We raised a lot of eye brows when we pulled into the Provincial Parks along Route 17 and 1 asking for a camp site for the night. The trip across Canada was spectacular and we all learned a lot about our Northern Neighbor.

In the last 35 years since 1970 we have been back to Canada several times and have enjoyed it immensely. We have also been east to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and New Brunswick, by car that is. As a young Naval Officer, in 1957, I did visit Newfoundland. Our Submarine, the USS Amberjack SS 522, refueled and resupplied at the Naval Base at Argentia in early March of 1957. We were on our way to barrier patrol duty between Iceland and Greenland listening for Russian Submarines.

Once we got the boat to Seattle we launched her and then learned how to sail. In September of 1969 we started out from Seattle and sailed to the Panama Canal, then up the East Coat of the U.S. to Annapolis Maryland in 1970 where our year long journey ended. Since we had no place to sail in central Indiana we left the boat with a Broker in Annapolis, Maryland and it was sold within a few weeks. We have missed her ever since and haven't cruised again.

After 35 years, at the Age of 73, I am writing a series of children novels (fiction) based on our cruising experiences of 1969/70, and having great fun doing it. I am collecting information on our G 26 as part of my re education about sailing her. I have many pictures of her and a slide show of 1 and 1/2 hours duration that I entertain friends and groups with from time to time.

We had never sailed a sailboat in our life before we purchase our G26. As a submariner though, I had a lot of experience at sea, navigation and ship handling. I felt quite confident that I could train our all girl crew and as it turned out the girls were great responsible sailors. The reason why we selected our G26 was because a good friend of mine in Pittsburgh Pa. was a boat dealer and he sold me one for $6200 U.S. delivered in Oakville. It was an offer I couldn't refuse.

Here is a photo of the Petticoat iV being raced in Cristobal Harbour in
Panama. The racing crew were our three daughters, Holly 16, Nancy
12 and Cindy 11. They could handle the boat like professional sailors.
At the time of the race (1970) they were the only crew that was not
captained by a Panama Canal Pilot. (Note how low the boat is riding
due to 45 days of food on board for the journey to Key West.