MHYC Croatia Yacht Rally 2008

by Trevor Joyce on 10 Jul 2008
Croatia boasts 1,200 islands and 6,500 kilometres of coastline, countless bays and inlets, deep safe water, not much tide and some of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe.

The big attractions are easy to find and remarkable though they are it was the out of the way places that we most enjoyed. As one club member said, 'if we had come over here on our own we may never have found Meneghellos or the Jastozero restaurant in Komiza on Vis or maybe even Vis itself.' As for Lastovo, well whoever heard of the place - but what a jewel it is.

Vis and Lastovo have only recently come onto the tourism radar at all because until 1998 they were military bastions and off limits to the general public. Marshall Tito fortified these islands in preparation for an invasion but even the tourists have not yet invaded these two beautiful islands.

The Middle Harbour Yacht Club members and friends enjoyed the rally format developed by Mariner Boating Holidays which combined a lot of carousing with a little racing during two weeks in Croatia this June. The race day/lay day format allows time to explore the islands and ports of this incredible coast.

Six short races in the rally programme were straight line non-spinnaker affairs designed to take the fleet along the route to Dubrovnik. The yachts chartered for the event were all stock standard cruising models, mostly from the Beneteau yard and part of the package included invaluable 24/7 technical support. The committee boat carried a veritable chandlery of spares although most equipment malfunction reflected the unfamiliarity of the operator rather than mechanical failure. The affable chain-smoking, coffee powered Milan also provided the general knowledge and language interface for the mostly Australian contingent, which would have miserably failed a test on Croatian history and geography before arrival in the country.

Possible highlight among many was the town and island of Korcula, where the ACI marina sits right outside the 16thcentury city gate. Within, the maze of cobbled streets carry no vehicular traffic at all and there is no modern construction whatsoever apart from the invisible water, sewerage, phone and electricity systems and who knows how they were installed without permanent scarring of the antique masonry. Featured among an unchanging facade of medieval stone and red tile architecture is the house in which one of the world’s first tourists, Marco Polo was allegedly born.

Tiny restaurants and coffee houses, the inevitable jewellery and art shops some how seemed in tune with the medieval aura created by the two and three story houses, three churches and cobbled streets a frog could cross with a single jump. Amex, Visa and Mastercard had a field day during the two nights and full day that the Australian flags fluttered in the marina. Tourism has somehow come to town without destroying it in the process.

The weather is the centrepiece of most 'yachtie' conversations and Middle Harbour yachties on the rally were no exception. Apart from a few meteorological gyrations right at the beginning of the rally, highlighted by a 35 knot Yugo from the south east, which brought some rain, the stable summer pattern produced 12 hot days, out of 14 and light north westerly Maestral breezes. Waves of any magnitude are rare among the islands and the general south easterly direction of the rally meant that most of the passage races were run in following conditions.

The island of Mljet with Lake Jezero in the national park at the western end and several key-hole anchorages along the northern shore is in the heart of Croatian lobster and mussel territory so the seafood junkies indulged themselves in the waterfront restaurants. The national park is well set up with walking and cycling tracks and a disused monastery in the middle of the lake is a great attraction for tourists.

Dubrovnik is one of the most beautiful cities in the world but sadly in danger of being over-run by tourism. On the day after our arrival there no less than seven cruise ships disgorged their corpulent contents into the main street of the old city, where once a few locals strolled arm in arm in the twilight. Fortunately cruise ship passengers only stay for a few hours at a time and in the evening normality returned to this extraordinary place. Walking the top of the city wall provides an incredible spectacle with only the fresh red of the recently replaced war damaged roofs hinting at the anything other than sixteenth century construction.

At the final function in his wrap up Jack Stening expressed the view that we were all winners in an event that had also been a successful membership expansion project for the club. He announced the next rally to be held in Thailand in January 2010 to be preceded by another membership drive during 2008/9.