The GRANNY FRANNY boat

Well, well, well........We roll into the 70's and it's time to grab the life jackets, the igloo cooler, the water skis, the suntan oil, and the beach towels...and hop aboard the GRANNY FRANNY boat...as it rumbles into your sightlines, pulling up to the pier...The Granny Franny was a 20 foot Correct Craft inboard speedboat...and I do mean SPEED-boat...It probably had the most powerful engine on Lake Geneva, for sure ..I'm guessing at least a 475-496 horsepower Chrysler Marine engine...which was like a tank engine compared to other boats...and the thunderous roar of the engine...was plainly a major characteristic of this mighty beast...

Originally, back in 1970, my Dad was just paring down his choices for a boat...He was going to go with a huge orange house boat but all the kids wanted to be able to water ski...So he searched and searched and he one day just took a ride on the new Granny Franny...being sold over at the Delavan Boat Company...(which is only yards away from my sister's Maureen's current Summer Home)...

I don't think my Dad had any clue it had such a large, ferocious, rumbling engine...It may have been one of the first boats he'd actually had ever been on...But one ride on the GRANNY was all he ever needed...It was so sleek, with a cool dark green bottom-half, creme top/interior...Plenty of room, for all the kids...And gas back then was probably less than a dollar a gallon...What was there not to love...

As my Dad wrapped up buying the Granny...the boat dealer asked him if he wanted a name painted on the back of the boat....He thought, for a moment, long and hard...and he came up with the amusing little name that would always have us laughing...See, my Mom, Frances, was only 46 years old and had around 2 or 3 grandchildren at the time...so she certainly didn't feel like an old Granny...But there it was...painted in large whispy white writing, across the back of the dark green boat....GRANNY FRANNY...

I think my Mom was a little startled...and all us kids...couldn't believe my Dad would actually name our boat such a crazy name...It pretty much freaked us all out...But it stuck like glue and anybody out on the water who dared challenge us to a race...would soon find out that the thunderously loud, dark green boat with the silly, silly name, pretty much was gonna leave you in your tracks...

I'd say we were challenged quite a bit...back then...They even used to have these high performance boats called DONZIS...and the owners of these boats prided themselves, thinking they had the ultimate speed machines...Such was not the case...The Granny not only was fast...but it cut right thru the high waves...like a knife...It left a huge, huge wake behind the boat...and anyone driving the Granny loved to put the throttle down...all the way....and hold on for dear life....It was pretty exhilerating to bounce about at about 60mph....clutching onto something...like you were on a thrill ride...like no other...

Wow!!!!!!!!!!....

That's all you could say...after lifting up the throttle and let it purr to a complete stop....

Hours and hours of so much fun...was spent on the Granny Franny....Whether it was Danny or Joe or Karen or Joan...or any of my brother-in-laws...getting out on the water skis...or just a bunch of tiny little grandchildren being loaded on for a gentle daylight cruise...The Granny Franny was just an endless, endless amount of fun....for all of my brothers and sisters...Maureen, Patsy, Kathy, Joan, Karen, Joe, Danny and all of the little ones, too...

Sometimes, we'd drop anchor to take a break and just float about and relax...I can then remember opening up the cooler...and digging deep into the ice and pulling out several bottles of Pepsi...or a just a few cans of Graf's Root Beer....A big treat back then was these neat little new snack crackers called TRISCUITS....We'd open a box of these salted wheat crackers and pile on a quarter slice of American Cheese...and then, keep piling it on, layer after layer...Then my Dad would pull out the portable ladder from underneath the hull and everyone would jump off the boat and swim about, usually on a hot, hot, sticky, summer day....

I can remember there were times, when it was only ME & my Mom & my Dad...just floating still in the water...My Mom perched up on the deck, up front, dangling her feet in the water, everytime a wave would cause the boat to rock up an down...My Dad would prepare to take a wild swim dive off of the boat, usually with his favorite, cannonball plunge, which would drench both me and my Mom and have us laughing hysterically...You wanna talk about some timeless moments...Man, those were the best...It seemed like they would actually last forever.

Everyone has a special GRANNY FRANNY memory...I wish I could grab at least one from each one of my brothers and sisters...No doubt about it...I'd just love to sit back and listen to everyone's special memories of this famous, irreplaceable boat...that always had us excited about going out, with an exhuberent energy, enjoying the waters of Lake Geneva to the fullest...

I'll just throw this one out there...for the fun of it...What lucky grandkid, can't recall, as their Grandpa would slowly drive the Granny Franny under the bridge as you entered the harbor at The Abbey...and he would have all the kids sit up on his lap in the captain's chair and press the button next to the steering wheel, for the extremely loud horn...to go off...so that it would echo...echo...echo...all about....What a huge thrill it was for those little ones...to generate such a huge commotion...

Going out on the Granny Franny at night was a perilous adventure, indeed...We really didn't quite have our bearings and it was a huge challenge to drive amidst all the unknown objects, floating about. It was just very cool to take the Granny out, all the time, any time, day or night...And if you add up all the time, all of us spent during the endless amount of summer hours, enjoying this special boat's unique charm, to the fullest, you'd certainly say that my Dad got his money's tidy worth and then some...

I know I could easily just float back and rattle off at least 10 to 20 pages of Granny Franny adventurous boat stories, easily...Most of them good...a tiny few, even bad...It's so hard...to think of even, stopping of writing about the Granny Franny boat, at this juncture...I just want to hold onto to those precious moments....so, so bad...

It almost makes me cry...as we drive by it nowadays, across the street from the Sentry Food Store in Walworth, today, where, the old Granny Franny, sits...alone...in a chalky gravel, side lot...its now faded green bottom looking haggard and worn...Somehow, it justs sits there, just magically, holding on, for dear life, not ready to go to that big boatyard in the sky...Put there, for all of us to drive by...and just sigh...It is truly an icon...in the history of the O'Leary family, and I always say...as I buy a lotto ticket...all the time...The first thing I do if I win the LOTTO...is buy that damn boat back, immediately, at any cost, and restore it to its full and lusterous glory...

Memories of The GRANNY FRANNY boat...truly, a captivating little piece, of such a glorious era, the early 70's and beyond...in the unique annals of Jim O'Leary's life...for sure...