Ramona

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RAMONA
story & photos ex Harold Kidd
The photos above show the 25 footer RAMONA racing with the NZPBA in 1928 and in 1931. She usually raced in the “Cruisers, over 12 knots” races.
She was built by S. Granros of Ponsonby in September 1928 for F. J. Fawcett of Mount St. John.
Unsure what power she had, but it was obviously more than adequate.
Fawcett cruised and raced her until November 1933 when he sold her to Hans Molgaard of Tauranga who still had her in 1936. I don’t know her subsequent history, probably a name change as the popular song “Ramona” from the 1928 film of the same name became somewhat passé.
Her builder, Sam Granros was a Finn who came to NZ in 1904. He built a lot of speedboats and launches in St. Mary’s Bay and at 12 Hackett Street, Ponsonby, for example, HILMA, NURMI, ALMA, RAMONA, RAMONA JR. (1930), CYGNET I, II and III, ESTHER, MISS PONSONBY, all go fast outfits. NURMI was a 1926 20ft 6in speedboat with a 120hp Hall-Scott, although she was originally going to be fitted with a 6 cylinder Napier car engine which would have been pretty heavy.
Sam later moved to Oneroa and died in 1946.

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12 thoughts on “Ramona”

  2. Granros built the inboard MISS PONSONBY in late 1932 or early 1933. She took part in the Masport Cup races on the Tamaki River in 1933 nominated by Ponsonby Cruising Club. Her racing number was S21.Her engine was a 100hp Hall-Scott. She had a long handicap and was more a fast runabout than a racer.

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  4. Does anyone know anything about Miss Ponsonby (mentioned above)? I’m currently rebuilding a replica of her after acquiring the original boat some years back. Any history would be of great interest to me.

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  5. RAMONA caught fire off St. Heliers in May 1934 and was burned to the water’s edge…total loss.

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  6. Negative. You need to go to the microfilms at Auckland Public Library, the only resource we had until Papers Past.

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  7. Hi Harold

    I was trying to locate the reference in the NZ Herald 13 Sept 1928, but Papers Past only has issues up to 1924. Is there another web resource that lets me look at NZ Herald after 1924?

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  9. Thanks very much Harold. It just shows me how important it is that facts need to be verified from multiple sources. Regards Mori

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  11. These Auckland Star articles were written by W.A. Wilkinson, alias “Speedwell” and compiled from his handwritten notes taken down as he strolled around the various yards. Sometimes he mixed up yards and boats and owners in transcribing from his notes, or he did some stuff from memory.
    The Percy Vos boat for Archer is clearly not RAMONA but BLUEWING. I have an image of RAMONA in Granros’ backyard……….somewhere….

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  12. Hi Harold

    I am a bit confused about Ramona. This article indicates that she was built for E.Archer by P.Vos

    http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19281026.2.184&srpos=1&e=——-100–1—-0Vos+launch+Archer–

    Is this wrong? I came across a reference to a 25 footer built by Granros for Fawcett but could not find a name for the boat. Is this Ramona? See

    http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19280914.2.136.8&srpos=2&e=——-100–1—-0Fawcett+Granros–

    Regards
    Mori

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