A hidden treasure!

For years, many have pondered this question and no single answer has come up. Well, I'm confident enough about the Niagara 26 that I dare propose it as the answer.

garvock, a Niagara Sailboat Owner Page member and Niagara owner wrote:

"Well the name of one boat Kept coming up all the time, the Niagara 26. I travelled to Meaford to see "Wind Warrior" and found out that it was the club champion. I travelled to Thornbury and talked to the owner of "Slip stream" the club champion there. I travelled to Barrie and began to crew with "Babe" the club champion there. In the end I purchased a Niagara 26 with a partner and liked it so much I purchased another one on my own. We took first place in the high rating white sails division at the Meaburywood Regatta in our first year. We were third in the Georgian Bay Regatta (which was won by Slip Stream) as well."

In 1975, George Hinterhoeller of Niagara on the Lake Ontario Canada, the designer of the immensely popular Shark daysailer, wanted an affordable, overnight cruisable yet fast sailboat. His design became the Niagara 26. 170 boats were built in all.

The Niagara 26 sails like a racing boat. It is a sparkling all round performer, taking the often light airs with aplomb, yet rugged enough to over come gale conditions without concern. The boat is comfy enough that at the cruise end, it's tough to return to the working world.

This George Hinterhoeller design has very good upwind performance which leaves her contemporaries far behind. Sail adjustments abound but can be used or ignored at the discretion of the skipper. The Niagara 26 is a fractional rig and has adjustable backstay, cunningham, outhaul, pole up, pole down and 4 halyards all led aft to cabin. There are 4 winches with jam cleats beside each and a mainsheet traveller that crosses the cockpit. Sail inventory is typically #1,#3, main and spinnaker. All of the adjustments make this a great boat for "wanna be" racers or true racers but most can be ignored if a sensible sail plan is used on a comfortable day sail. With the sails control you can easily de-power the mainsail and keep it full for better downwind legs in up to 35 knots of wind. The boat can handle the extra sail area. Cruising mode welcomes reefing when you don't have crew sitting on the rail and you don't want your chips and peanuts falling overboard. 

The cockpit has two large lockers under the cockpit seats and has a large lazarette locker under a "poop" deck. This locker has a cutout in the transom for outboard motor mount much like the Shark although some boats came with saildrive inboard, making them a bit slower. The interior has 5'5" headroom in galley tapering to 5'2" in head. There are two layouts. The first few boats have a table that folds down from the bulkhead in between two single settee berths while the more common layout has a starboard single settee berth and a port dinette that transforms in a double berth. You will find the usual cruising setup; galley with sink, cooler, stove, hanging locker. Teak/holly sole and teak bulkhead with a door leading to head area. There is a lot of teak especially in the first few boats. Through another bulkhead is the v-berth with a 10 gal water tank beneath. All you need for your typical family of four.

For nigh on 20 years, Don Campbell of Niagara on the Lake Sailing Club and owner of Counterpoint Hull #6 (now named Wotan and raced at CNDM) has trailered his Niagara to Florida each winter, cruised the Bahamas, then trailered to Georgian Bay each summer.

Three builders ultimately became involved with the Niagara 26.  Hinterhoeller's Niagara boat works built the first 69 boats, then Goman in Midland Ontario built some and final Halman in Goderich built the later boats. On the question of the differences between the three manufacturers. Rumours say, Niagara Yachts and Goman are almost the same in quality of construction and speed. Halman changed a few things. For instance you can tell that the spreaders are not swept back on a Halman Niagara 26. This is an advantage (some say) running dead down wind, but going up wind it does not point as well. Halman also put more Fiberglass in their boats which increased the weight by a few hundred pounds. The quality of the workmanship in the Halman hulls has been questioned, with (supposedly) more leaking and screws protruding through the hull.

The Niagara 26 competes in PHRF-2 with a respectable handicap (for the outboard motor with spinnaker) of 0.996 T/T and 183 T/D. Montreal has a growing fleet with 18 SLVYRA rated sailboats on the Handicap list, four of them club racing bi-weekly at the CNDM. Niagaras have consistently placed at the top of their Class at Husdon's Labour Day Regatta. Additionally an active and resourceful Niagara owner group with answers and advices about tuning, parts, maintenances and repairs can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/niagarasailboatownerspage

Conclusion: "Great boat for someone who aspires to be a racer but is really a cruiser."

George passed away in 1999, but his legacy lives on. There are 75 known Niagara 26's still sailing and possibly more - mostly in the Georgian Bay, in Halifax and in the Montreal area but also around Canada and the US Northeast.

This article was created using different sources and with additional original content.

David Godin, SLVYRA