Browsing: Grumpy

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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John Hauck, 82, Completes Great Loop Again, Alone

John Hauck, 82, just completed the Great Loop, again, by himself. Hauck finished the Loop, crossing his wake, 132 days after he left Demopolis, Alabama, on his Rosborough RF-246 named Grumpy. For Hauck, the second Loop came almost two years after he completed it the first time, on Aug. 2, 2019, after he had cruised 6,303 miles in 110 days. He spent most of the time by himself on that trip, although a lady friend joined him for a short spell. A retired Army special forces major who flew Cobra helicopter gunships for the 101st Airborne in the Vietnam war, Hauck…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Grumpy About Half Way Through Loop, Again

Here’s an update about John Hauck, the retired Army Special Forces major and helicopter pilot who says he’s going to celebrate his 82nd year by completing the Great Loop, solo, for the second time, on his 25-foot Rosborough Grumpy. Hauck completed his first trip around the Great Loop on Aug. 2, 2019, crossing his wake back in his home port of Demopolis, Alabama, traveling 6,303 miles in 110 days. He started his second trip, also in Demopolis, on March 10. Earlier this week, Hauck was tied up at the marina at the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia, having run…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Grumpy Takes on the Great Loop – Again

John Hauck, a retired Army Special Forces major and helicopter pilot, doesn’t know when to quit. Not even two years ago, on Aug. 2, 2019, he completed the Great Loop on his 25-foot Rosborough named Grumpy when he was 80 years old. Now he’s at it again. Earlier this week, Hauck loaded Grumpy at the dock behind his lake house in Titus, Alabama (pictured above), and trailered it 125 miles to Demopolis, where he launched it in the Tombigbee River to start the loop one more time. He will turn 82 next month. “You guessed it,” he wrote on his…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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Grumpy Completes Great Loop, with Some Lessons for Us All

Mission accomplished. John Hauck, 80, a retired Army special forces major and helicopter pilot, just finished the Great Loop, arriving back home in Demopolis, Alabama, 110 days and 6,303 miles after he left. He put 416 hours on the twin 150-hp Mercury outboards that drove Grumpy, his RF-246 Rosborough, and said they “performed flawlessly.” Hauck did the Loop solo, except for 21 days when a lady friend joined him, from the Erie Canal to Ludington, Michigan, on Lake Michigan. He says if he does the Loop again, it would be nice to have company onboard. Hauck’s journey was a major…

On Watch with Peter Janssen
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After 5,000 Miles and One Major Mishap, John Hauck, 80, Approaches Chicago on the Great Loop, Solo Once Again, on Grumpy

When we last checked in with John Hauck, the 80-year-old retired Army major and special forces helicopter pilot who is doing the Great Loop on his own, he was down on the Gulf Coast of Florida. That was two months ago. Since then Hauck has driven Grumpy, his 2003 Rosborough RF-246, around much of the Loop, and he’s now near Chicago. All told, Hauck writes from St. Joseph on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, just 60 miles from Chicago, that he has spent 99 days and put more than 5,000 miles behind him since he left Demopolis, Alabama, on…