Bogie’s One True Love
Is it possible to have a passion for old boats and not be a romantic? I tend to think not and perhaps this is why I connect so strongly with these photos, stories and videos of Humphrey Bogart enjoying SANTANA with his friends and family.
The only cause my husband Humphrey Bogart ever gave me to be jealous was not of a woman but a boat – a racing yacht called SANTANA. – Lauren Bacall
This glimpse into the past reminds us that old boats are repositories of old loves, lives and passions – they mattered to people then, and they matter to people now – kinda nice, huh!
When I walk in bare feet on the teak deck of FAIR WINDS; when I climb her original ladder after a swim; when we sit on the bow, our backs against the coach roof, our ankles resting on the windlass, watching a summer sky turn burnt orange; when we pull in a fish or share a drink in the cockpit with mates or climb into bed, the crackly of the sea, inches from our ears – I wonder about all the others who have enjoyed her, before us, though just as we do.
Bogart described SANTANA as his sanctuary. I feel this too. Arriving on board and stowing away all we need, nothing else matters other than water and diesel if we need it; a forecast for the next three days, a good book, enough wine. Everything else one needs is on board.
While most people know that Bogie and Bacall had a great love affair, probably fewer know about my father’s other great love–sailing. Specifically, it was with his 55-foot sailing yacht, SANTANA. The sea was my father’s sanctuary.
- Stephen Bogart
And so it was for Bogart and his love affair with SANTANA. You can understand, a megastar at the height of his fame wishing to escape the limelight, media and sycophants. You can understand why sailing and racing – grounded skills of self-reliance and control – appealed to a man whose career was to inhabit characters of fiction.
SANTANA was named after the infamous Santa Ana Winds of California, and was originally conceived as a yawl by Olin Stephens, but the first owner Mr. Stewart insisted on a luxury staysail schooner built with racing in mind.
Years later owner George Brent re-rigged her as a yawl, but wanted to keep the existing mainmast, of which S&S recommended a larger main. With her new rig SANTANA proved to be more suited for the strong winds that she was named after, but challenged in lighter winds.
Owners Paul & Chrissy Kaplan of Keefe Kaplan Maritime (KKM) restored and re-rigged SANTANA once more back to a schooner.
Current owners recently completed a major restoration of 55ft S&S, a hull and deck rebuild and rig conversion from schooner to yawl.
Here’s a snapshot of those who
have owned and sailed upon SANTANA.
Owner: (1935-1939) – William Lyman Stewart, Jr., member of the Los Angeles Yacht Club, son of the founder of the Union Oil Company. SANTANA was the brainchild of W. L. Stewart, Jr., the son of the founder of the Union Oil Company. She was designed by the 27 year old Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens (S & S). Stewart wanted a schooner that could show her heels to the best and brightest on both coasts. Stewart often sailed against Jascha Heifetz Galatea. The six annual Commodores Cruise and yacht celebration racing from Southern California to the Isthmus. Four hundred yachts participated, with strong westerly winds. W.L. Stewart, Jr’s won the forty-five foot Sailing Association race with SANTANA, beating out Jascha Heifetz in Galatea by a minute and a half.
Owner: (1939-1941) – Charles Isaacs. SANTANA was placed for sale and was quickly bought by Charles Isaacs, a businessman from San Diego. Mr. Isaacs was the fourth husband of Hungarian actress Eva Gabor, the Hollywood Hungarian who reportedly understood that it is just as easy to love a rich man as a poor one. Isaacs owned SANTANA for two years.
Owner/Actor: (1941-1944) – George Brent. While preparing Southwind for the Transpac George suffered a serious back injury, cancelling his plans. While recuperating he purchased SANTANA from Charles Isaacs. George was responsible for introducing SANTANA to movie society where she became the belle of the Hollywood fleet for the next 16 years. George Brent converted SANTANA to a yawl at Wilbo, recycling the old mainmast, which was deemed a bit short in its new configuration.
Owner/Academy Award Winner: (1944-1944) – Ray Milland, owned SANTANA for three months and no one seems to know why he sold her so quickly. It has been speculated that the movie studios played some role in the ownership of the boat, as it was a “photo opportunity” to gain publicity with a handsome yacht and leading man.
Owner/Actor: (1944-1945) – Dick & June Allyson Powell, after marrying June Allyson, the boat had to go. Much the same as Milland, Dick Powell owned the boat for a very short period of time, lending further credibility to the stories regarding movie studios using SANTANA for publicity purposes. The most notable improvement to SANTANA for which Powell was responsible came at the request of his wife, June Allyson, a jewelry box for her “baubles.” The story is that Ms. Allyson required a hiding place to store her jewelry while aboard the boat. She requested a special compartment be built where she could hide her “baubles”.
Owner/Actor: (1945-1957) – Humphrey DeForest Bogart, member Newport Harbor Yacht Club, and the Los Angeles Yacht Club. Humphrey inherited from his father, a successful surgeon, his life long passion for sailing, learning to sail on his father’s sloop on Lake Canadaigua, one of the finger lakes in upstate New York. The Bogarts lived in a fashionable Upper West Side apartment, and had a cottage in upstate New York. Humphrey attended the Trinity School in New York and then to the prestigious preparatory school Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts.
Humphery Bogart would go on to become one of the Greatest Male Stars of all time. Altogether, appearing in over 75 feature motion pictures. Winning his only Oscar for his portrayal as Charlie Alnutt in the 1951 John Huston directed film “African Queen.”
Soon after the main filming for The Big Sleep concluded in early 1945 he filed for divorce from his third wife, married the 21 year-old Bacall, and bought the 55-foot sailing yacht SANTANA from actor friend, and fellow movie screen detective, Dick Powell. Humphrey had admired SANTANA for years while sailing aboard his 21-foot Albatross Class sloop, Slug Nutty. After some negotiation he agreed to sell her to Humphrey for a reported $50,000, thus began his lifelong love affair with this beautiful yawl.
As “Founding Father,” with his wife Lauren Bacall as “Den Mother,” Humphrey often recruited crew from his Holmby Hills Rat Pack for races to Catalina Island. Johnny Weissmuller, Jr., in his Allure and Errol Flynn, in his Sirocco. All three would bet on the outcome, and all were known for their legendary hell-raising once there.
At Humphery Bogarts funeral in 1957, a scale model of the SANTANA was present, sans glass case, while John Huston gave the eulogy. Regardless of how many owners there have been or ever will be, SANTANA will always be known as “Bogie’s” boat.
Owner: (1957-1960) – Willis Short. Following Bogart’s death, SANTANA was purchased by Willis Short, a San Diego interior decorator. Short raced the boat locally and made one striking change in her appearance.
Owner: (1960-1966) – Wally Nickell, president of the Western Highway Oil. Purchased SANTANA to race in the 1961 Transpacific Race. W. H. (Wally) Nickell was a retired Brigadier General in the U. S. Army who became an independent oilman in Sacramento, becoming the second owner of SANTANA who was in the oil business. Nickell was a Sacramento resident, who previously had K-40 COQUETTE and the Newporter ketch KUHELA.
Owner: (1966-1971) – William Solari, San Francisco attorney. Mr. Solari, a wealthy attorney, bought SANTANA with the intention of racing her. Solari’s most ambitious project was entering SANTANA in the 1968 Bermuda Race, 30 years after her triumphant debut there.
Owner: (1971-1973) – Charlie Peet. Charlie Peet was a Sausalito, Calif., restaurateur who had adventure in his blood. In 1971 he and his wife, Marty, bought SANTANA to sail the around the world. Sailing with them was Jim Leech as crew, now of the sail making firm Leech & Rudiger.
Owner: (1973) – M. Lloyd Carter. When Peet returned to San Francisco he sold SANTANA to M. Lloyd Carter, a “drama therapist” from Marin County. Carter had it in his head that he, too, was going to sail her around the world.
Owner: (1973-1998) – Tom and Ted Eden. Thomas F. and Theodore A. Eden, twin brothers who ran their own successful architectural, and structural engineering firm, knew that SANTANA was in need of considerable work and they were prepared for the task. It took them nearly three years, and a small fortune, with the help of many others to finally get the boat back into sailing condition. Once finished she was the “Belle of the Ball” once more. Lauren Bacall had paid a nostalgic-visit, and on SANTANA’s 50th anniversary an open-house for the public was conducted. November 1997 SANTANA sinks during the night, due to a defective bilge pump. Slowly sinking to what must have been one of the most painful moments of her celebrated career.
Owner: (1998-2013) – Paul & Chrissy Kaplan (extensive restoration needed having sunk at the St Francis Yacht Club under past owner)
Owner: (2013-current) – Private
Want more? Here’s a link to the book -
Sailing With Bogie: A Memoir of Humphrey Bogart's Passion for the Sea
Very few people understand the magic of the sea and very few people ever knew that the world's best known actor Humphrey Bogart spent much of his free time aboard his sailboat SANTANA. Bogie committed many years of study and practice to earn the reputation as one of the most accomplished racers and captains in the area. Fellow sailor Larry Dudley came to be Bogie's friend, cabin mate and confidant during their ten years together sailing and racing off the coast of Southern California. Years into their friendship, Dudley had just finished reading "The African Queen" when he told Bogie he thought there was a part in it for him... a prophetic fit for the man and the movie. These two men shared a love of the ocean and the fine vessels that traveled on the seas. Be it a long race around the islands or at anchor off a pebbled beach, Bogie felt at ease amongst the sailors and had earned their respect on and off the water. He referred to the SANTANA as "the other world" and revealed a side of himself to his sailing friends that no one else knew. "Sailing With Bogie" reveals insights into his wife Lauren Becall, Katherine Hepburn, Jack Warner, John Huston, Sterling Hayden and others. Read about Humphrey Bogart in a hidden life away from the Hollywood lights.
// Written and Edited by Sal Balharrie with thanks to Classic Sail Boats