In 2019, John Hauck was 80 years old when he completed the Great Loop for the first time. Now 82 years old, the former Cobra helicopter gunship pilot has done it again.
Hauck finished his 2021 Loop 132 days after he left Demopolis, Alabama, on Grumpy, his Rosborough RF-246. He wrote on his Facebook page that he “enjoyed my first Great Loop and even more so the second time around.”
He advocated for his used 2003 boat with its twin counter-rotating Mercury 150-hp EFI four-stroke outboards. “Had I been traveling in a ‘normal’ larger trawler at one-third the speed of Grumpy’s cruise speed, it would have taken me more than a year to do the same route. I can assure you doing the Great Loop is a lot of fun, but there are a lot of boring stretches at 23 mph.”
He encountered a few challenges along the way when his autopilot gave out and he needed some engine work done but, overall, he was pleased with his boat. “I am extremely proud of Grumpy,” Hauck wrote. “Once I got settled in, I found it extremely easy to adjust and live 24/7 on a 25-foot boat.”
You can read more about Hauck’s second Great Loop adventure on his Facebook page, Grumpy Does the Great Loop 2021.
