thelog.com
The Log • Dec. 20 - Jan. 2, 2014 • 17
SoCal
Boat Name: Branta Length: 59 ft. Beam: 10 ft., 6 in. Draft: 8 ft., 6 in.
Year Built: 1928. Starling Burgess designed 14 fairly identical 10-meter class sloops, built as a one-design fleet. The plans were shipped to Bremerhaven, Germany where Abeking & Rasmussen Schiffs would bring the vessels, including Branta, to life. The boat was then brought on a ship to Halifax, Nova Scotia, to avoid paying duty, and sailed to the United States. “The boat was built for a family in the New York Yacht Club,” said Roy Reineman,
brother of Branta’s current owner, Richard Reineman. “It was built to race around buoys but you could also take it out on the weekend. I spent a lot of summers in Catalina on it.”
Notable Moments in Boat’s History: Branta, sister ship of Sally, a boat featured in the Dec. 3-16 issue of The Log, has been in the Reineman family since 1956. While Branta has placed in several races, such as the Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race and the California Cup; her more notable moments have been the least lucky ones. When Reineman’s brother’s father, Richard, better known as “Dick,” initially pur-
chased Branta, the mast was broken. “Don Ayres, who owned the boat before me said it was broken because Hancock Banning Jr., who owned most of Los Angeles harbor (and whose family owned Hancock Oil), tried to take it under a bridge but the bridge worker wouldn’t raise it,” Roy Reineman said. “Banning was very strict about who he let sail with him. He wouldn’t let women on his boat. He wouldn’t even let his kids on it.” Years later, Roy’s wife discovered that one of the houses she once gardened for was
owned by Banning’s sons. “We took him out on the boat and I asked him if this was his first time sailing on it. It was,” he said. “My father bought it from him because Hancock had a heart condition – Hancock
practically gave it to him,” said Richard Reineman. “My dad paid a ridiculously low price and Hancock liked him so much he put a brand new hull on it for free. He hated to sell it but liked that someone was going to take good care of it.” In 1983, Branta blew up. Literally. “We used to have a gas engine on board and a 5-
foot long automatic fire extinguisher. One day that steel canister decided to turn into a bomb,” Roy Reineman said. The explosion destroyed most of the deck and hull, all of
Classics — Branta
the cockpit was gone, and the vessel sunk within 15 seconds. Fortunately no one was on board – the electri- cian who had been tinker- ing with the vessel left for lunch before it could self destruct.
Famous Skippers Who Have Been Aboard?: “I took Olin Stephens for a sail for his 95th birthday,” Richard Reineman said, “he was actually the one who sailed the Branta down from Newfoundland to the New York YC when he was 16.” Stephens wrote a chapter about the adventure in his autobiography. The majority of the time, the Reineman brothers sailed Branta with their father, mother and siblings at the helm. “I did take the Barbers out – the Barbers owned the boat before the Bannings,”
recalled Richard Reineman. “Old man Barber, he and his wife would take it out sailing before it had an engine back in the thirties. He broke his back and had to sell the boat.” Richard took him out sailing for his 90th birthday, a few years back. “We sailed against many people who were quite famous,” Richard Reineman added. “They were a lot better than we were but we still beat them once in a while.”
Recent Notes: Branta was reconstructed in 1984, a year after its explosion, by Knight & Carver Maritime in National City. “My father fortunately had insurance on the boat so he had money to invest back into it,” Roy Reineman said. “There were some minor changes but most had to do with the engine repositioning.” Since they were able to salvage Branta’s original housing, the boat looks as it did when it was first built. As of recent, Branta is for sale.
Where Currently Berthed: San Diego Yacht Club ☛
Have a favorite yacht in your harbor that should be covered as a SoCal Classic? Email suggestions and/or photos to ambrosia @
thelog.com or mail to: The Log, Editorial Dept., 17782 Cowan, Ste. C, Irvine, CA 92614.
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