The South Westerly Course And The Existing 12 Knot Mistral Produced A Wind Angle Of 90 Degrees For The First Part Of The Race And 5 Boats Ran One Another Off To The Left Side Of The Course While The Eventual Winner Alan Woodward Stuck To The Rum Line With The Other 4 Yachts Of The 10 Identical Beneteau First 45′s.

Croatia Yacht Rally 2011 meandered toward its conclusion in Dubrovnik last week with a race from Korcula to Mljet, a distance of just twelve miles.

The ‘Pearl of the Adriatic ‘, positioned on the Dalmatian coast, became an important Mediterranean sea power from the 13th century onwards. Although severely spoiled by an earthquake in 1667, Dubrovnik managed to preserve its pretty Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, priories, palaces and fountains. Damaged again in the 1990s by armed conflict, it’s now the focus of a major restoration program co-ordinated by UNESCO.

The ‘Pearl of the Adriatic ‘, on the Dalmatian coast, was an important Mediterranean sea power from the 13th century onwards. Although seriously spoilt by an earthquake in 1667, Dubrovnik managed to preserve its pretty Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, priories, palaces and fountains.

Dubrovnik was set up in the first part of the 7th century by a grouping of refugees from Epidaurum, who established their settlement at the island and named it Laus. The Latin name Ragusa (Rausa), in use till the fifteenth century, originated from the rock (Lat. Lausa = rock). Opposite that location, at the foot of Srcic ; Mountain, the Slavs developed their own settlement using the name of Dubrovnik, obtained from the Croatian word dubrava, which means oak woods. When the channel that separated these two settlements was filled in the 12th century they were united. From the time of its corporation the town was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire ; after the Fourth Crusade the town came under the sovereignty of Venice (1205-1358), and by the Treaty of Zadar in 1358 it became part of the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom, when it was a republican free state that reached its top in the fifteenth and 16th centuries. An economic crisis in Mediterranean shipping and, more particularly, a devastating earthquake on April 1667 that levelled most of the public buildings, annihilated the welfare of the Republic. This dynamic earthquake came as a significant point in the city’s development.

Dubrovnik is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a late-medieval walled town, with a regular street layout. Among the outstanding medieval, Renaissance and Baroque monuments in the impressive fortifications and the enormous gates to the town are the City Hall (now the Rector’s Palace), dating from the eleventh century ; the Franciscan Priory (finished in the 14th century, but now mostly Baroque in appearance) with its imposing church ; the extensive Dominican Priory ; the cathedral (rebuilt after the 1667 earthquake) ; the customs house (Sponza), the eclectic appearance of which unearths the fact that it’s the work of one or two hands over many years ; and a number of other Baroque churches, for example that of St Blaise (patron saint of the town).

The original World Heritage site consisted only of the defences and the intra-mural town. It was later extended to incorporate the Pile medieval commercial suburb, a planned development of the fifteenth century, and the Lovrijenac Fortress, found on a cliff, which was doubtless begun as early as the eleventh century, but owes its present appearance to the fifteenth and 16th centuries. Also included were the Lazarets, built in the early 17th century to house potential plague-carriers from abroad, the late 15th-century Kase moles, built to offer protection to the port against south-easterly storms, and the Revelin Fortress, dating from 1449, which was built to order the town moat on its northwards side.

Six yachts finish in the same minute on the water!

The south westerly course and the present twelve knot mistral produced a wind angle of ninety degrees for the first part of the race and 5 boats ran one another off to the left side of the course while the ensuing winner Alan Woodward stuck to the rum line with the other 4 yachts of the 10 identical Beneteau First 45′s. The fleet eventually came together as the finish line approached and in the final analysis six of the 10 yachts completed in the same minute on the water. The match racing hot shots filled up the last 5 placings.

The post-race dinner at the Bourbon eaterie in Polace set the scene for a Roman style party, acceptable because Polace boasts the remains of a Roman villa.
The whole of the northern end of Mljet is a nationwide park and the lay day was spent walking thru the luxuriant pine forests that surround Lake Jezero.

The next and last race was set on a course across to Kobas on the mainland but dawn broke on a glassy sea with very little prospect of wind. Around 12 , however , and to everyone’s surprise, a twelve knot south easterly filled in around 1pm and the fleet worked across the passage on a flat sea in perfect summer conditions. Once again the fleet split and those that stayed to sea caught the yachts seeking non-existent lifts along the shore. After a run to the finish the yachts again completed in a ‘heap’.

The wily Alan Woodward of the Royal Brighton Yacht Club stayed out of the match racing frays between Roger Hickman, Steve Barlow from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and David Buckman from the Port Lincoln Yacht Club. Alan finally won the day on handicap from Alan Hare, a racing amateur who delighted in leading the famous Roger Hickman for a big part of the last race.

The final two nights at the sumptuous Dubrovnik Palace Hotel saw a steady wind down from an impressive rally sailed in ideal circumstances.
The 2012 Croatia Yacht Rally will be run by Mariner Sailing during the same fourteen days of 2012 and will likely be improves by a new event in Croatia to the north of Split in the Kornati Islands. The Croatia Kornati Yacht Rally will be sailed in the first 14 days of Sep. Again a matched fleet of yachts will be used, all with battened mains, triple spreader rigs, folding propellers and deep keels. 3 double cabins will supply spacious accommodation and a fourth twin cabin will be offering storage for luggage.

Details of the 2012 Croatia Yacht Rally are available on the internet and details of the Croatia Kornati Yacht Rally will soon be available, writes tagza.com.

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