New One Design Rally Around Northern Dalmatia

We’ve just come across what looks like an excellent choice of routes for a one design yacht rally next summer. Sail World plan a flotilla event around some of our favourite and less discovered parts of Croatia including Zadar, Šibenik and the Kornati islands. All are covered in depth in our Croatia Cruising Companion and, in this area, you can be sure of spectacular scenery, challenging sailing, and the best of Croatian culture, history and architecture.

Read more about the trip on Sail World's web page.

Read more about the area on the following pages of sister site, Croatia Online :

Croatia Online - Sibenik's Bunari Museum

Croatia Online - Caffe Bar Zoilo Zadar

Croatia Online - Biograd Gastronomy and Nightlife

or browse through this site and Croatia Online for a real taste of what to expect.

Today’s photo was taken at sunset in Zadar. The world renowned civic architect, Nikola Bašić, based in Zadar, designed the Greeting To The Sun, powered by photo voltaic cells, to accompany the haunting sounds of its neighbour, The Sea Organ, powered by the waves. In the distance, just a hint of what you might expect on Sail World’s sailing trip.

Duty Free Fuel Around Croatia

Whilst it’s still not possible to get duty free fuel in Croatia itself, there are now two great options on either side.

To the north, Camper and Nicholsons’ Porto San Rocco was granted permission, in June 2010, to sell duty free fuel to leisure craft. Located in the Bay of Muggia, within the Gulf of Trieste, 15 miles north east of Croatia, the position of Porto San Rocco in the northern Adriatic makes it very accessible to those cruising the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. Even better for those who berth their yachts in Istria, a convenient drive from Germany and Austria, and then head south to Croatia’s sailing heartland. Vessels must leave the EU within eight hours of bunkering which, of course, poses no problem! With Trieste’s airport just a 45 minute drive away, it’s also a great spot to pick up guests or change crew. For more information link to Porto San Rocco’s website.

To the south of Croatia, just beyond Dubrovnik and Cavtat, there’s Porto Montenegro whose September 2010 berth extension also came with duty free bunkering and quite a lot more. Self styled as the “New Port of Cool” there’s no doubting Porto Montenegro’s appeal both in location and facilities. For more information link to Porto Montenegro.

For those that don’t want the hassle of clearing customs etc and/or prefer to do all of their sailing within Croatia, fuel is still cheaper than in the UK and the coast and islands are dotted with fuel stations. We detail them, port by port, in the Croatia Cruising Companion. Good news also that Croatia is finally paying attention to providing pump-out facilities though co-author, John Nash, of Marina Facility Solutions, has been banging that particular drum for more time than we care to remember! See our earlier posting on Pump-Outs for the situation as it was and keep an eye out for an update, here, soon.

Thanks to Camper and Nicholsons for today’s photo of Porto San Rocco, Trieste.

Marina Prices

Berthing rates at Croatian marinas have been creeping up steadily since Croatia was rediscovered as one of the world’s best sailing grounds, now some years ago. With more than 50 marinas, over 1,000 islands, crystal clear waters and such a lovely way of life it’s a yachtsman’s paradise.

It’s still cheaper than many other places, including the UK, but a 10 metre berth will now cost around €50 a day and €4,500 per annum plus uplifts of between 10% to 75% in the more popular months. Some are cheaper and some much more expensive, usually according to demand and facilities. There are increasing variations in prices and it pays to shop around, if you can, though you will have limited choice for daily berths in July and August.

All of the marinas are pretty well equipped although the older ones have limited space for larger yachts. Some of them have been able to extend facilities and some of the new marinas are able to welcome superyachts with panache. The state owns just over 20 marinas - ACI Marinas. Most of the others are independently owned though there are a couple of organisations operating more than one marina.

We’ll be looking at individual marinas in more depth in subsequent postings but in the meantime, today’s photo shows the pontoons of Croatia’s newest marina Yachtclub Seget, near Trogir. Its pontoons are just to the left of the tree. On the peninsula jutting out to the right is Trogir Shipyard, surely also destined to become a marina before too long.