Ban on Irvine Lake Racing Sought in Wake of Death

A day after a runaway speedboat killed a 9-year-old girl on the shore at Irvine Lake, Orange County Supervisor Bruce Nestande called Monday for revoking a drag boat racing permit, unless race operators can prove the events can be conducted safely.

Nestande cited a history of injuries and three fatalities since 1982, when drag boat racing started at the lake.

Meanwhile, Peter Doyle, an attorney for the National Drag Boat Assn., which sanctioned the weekend race, said a preliminary inspection showed that something had gone wrong with the boat, causing it to veer to the right after passing the finish line and run up onto a beach lined with spectators.

The boat, which was traveling about 45 m.p.h. when it hit the beach, threw Brandy Branchflower, 9, of Burbank, about 45 feet, killing her instantly.

Brandy had gone to the lake with her parents, Georgia and Larry Branchflower, and her brother, Dan, 5. Her parents recalled Monday that the girl seemed frozen in place when the boat sped in their direction.

“He was coming in straight at our beach chairs and our blanket,” said Georgia Branchflower, breaking into sobs at the memory. “The guy in the boat was standing up, tilting, like he was trying to tip it or ready to jump. I didn’t want to yell at the children, because I was afraid they would run straight into the boat. I started running, then I realized that I had left my children back there.”

“Dan was fast,” the mother said. “He ran away. I turned. I saw my daughter. She never moved. I can understand, because I didn’t move at first.”

Larry Branchflower said the beach was crowded. “There were no partitions, no signs, nothing,” he said.

An inspector from the county’s Environmental Management Agency is scheduled to visit the lake today and report within a week to Nestande on whether the use permit should be canceled or continued with added safeguards.

Nestande’s proposal to cancel drag boat racing at the lake drew support from the Irvine Co., which owns the land surrounding the lake and leases it to concessionaires, who contract with race operators.

Despite criticism by some drag boat drivers regarding unsafe conditions at the lake, spokesmen for the Drag Boat Assn. maintained Monday that conditions at Irvine Lake are safer than at many lakes where identical races are held.

The association Monday flew in a Memphis, Tenn., marine architect and boating safety expert to inspect the 1,200-horsepower racing craft that killed the girl.

A Sacramento firm also was hired to take aerial photos of the lake to document the size of the course, which provides more room between racing boats and spectators than is required by the association’s standards, according to Doyle.

The marine expert hired by the association, Jack Riggleman, was joined by Orange County sheriff’s investigators in examining the boat. Results of the sheriff’s inspection were not immediately available.