Sailing in Croatia - with a big, big TZ-UK accent

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Today we returned from a week sailing in Croatia. And TZ-UK has a lot to do with it!

It started a few years back when I sold a watch to Martin (Martyloveswatches) who lives in Croatia. We stayed in contact; I mentioned our (my wife's and mine) love for sailing and Martin mentioned that his wife works in the local tourist industry, especially boat rental.

Fast forward to last November. I came home from the hospital with new stents after surgery and my wife mentioned: "A sailing trip in Croatia is still on my bucket list and I think it's good that we go asap, not knowing how your health will develop!" I replied that I knew a guy who could help us to get in contact with a good yacht rental company. Around Christmas my health had improved dramatically and I contacted Martin who replied instantly; he forwarded my question to his wife and she came up with the name of a first class yacht rental company in Zadar.

Last week we went to Zadar (there's a direct flight from where we live) and took an Uber to the marina. Our boat for the week was a brand-new Bavaria 37C. Brand-new as in: some items still had the celophane cover still on (like the back of some watches ). We knew that we had rented a new boat. The rental company sent us pics from time to time; the delivery, the first time in the water etc. All exciting when you love sailing. And honestly: the first time in 55 yrs of sailing experience, I had the pleasure to sail a brand-new ship. The smell of fresh and new. The shiny parts. The engine's operating hours a single digit! In this case it's like an owner handing you the keys of a 200K euros car and than he says: 'have fun this week!' Yes, the insurance deposit is high. But we're experienced sailors.

In short: there's a lot to tell about sailing in Croatia and the differences with sailing in NW Europe, like we're used to. Never a set-back, always a 'Oh I've learned something new!' (E.g. mooring a boat for the night is different from what we do and know in the UK and the Netherlands).

The main message is that TZ-UK helped us to have a wonderful holiday with tons of fun and first-class sailing. Martin knows that I'm writing this and that I mention his name. If you ever consider a sailing holiday in Croatia, I would suggest that you contact him like we did!

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Apart from Sailing: Zadar is a wonderful town. 3000 yrs(!!) old. It was already ancient when the Romans had a fort there. There are tourists in and around Zadar; mostly 'boaties' like we. Until now, mass tourism has not reached Zadar. Croatian people speak English; the younger ones speak it very good. Food in restaurants is amazing and is about 50% of our prices. The same goes for shopping. We had bags with food from Lidl and we had the idea that they were handing it out for free!

Sounds like you had a great time, envious [emoji106]

My son did a eight month skipper job as route leader for 6/8 boats doing the Split to Dubrovnik route. They were mostly 50’ charter boats with 6/8 people on board. Certainly not as new as your boat :)

Glad you enjoyed your sailing even with a 55 year pause

Steve

I have little to no experience of boating, let alone sailing, but the knowledge/skill required to do it properly is, I think, quite special and it sounds like you might have reignited an old passion :eagerness:

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Originally Posted by higham5

My son did a eight month skipper job as route leader for 6/8 boats doing the Split to Dubrovnik route. They were mostly 50’ charter boats with 6/8 people on board. Certainly not as new as your boat :)

Glad you enjoyed your sailing even with a 55 year pause

Steve

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Pause?

Great story and a great trip by the look of the photos. I’ve never been to Croatia but like most people I know plenty of people who have and all have only good things to say.

I’ve dealt with Martin before (hope you are still enjoying the Spork Martin), he’s a gentleman and this is all proof that the forum can be a really positive place.

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Great story and a great trip by the look of the photos. I’ve never been to Croatia but like most people I know plenty of people who have and all have only good things to say.

I’ve dealt with Martin before (hope you are still enjoying the Spork Martin), he’s a gentleman and this is all proof that the forum can be a really positive place.

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Originally Posted by Kingstepper

Pause?

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I mis read the 55 years since having a new boat ……my bad

Some of those cats have the size of Blenheim Palace and honestly I wouldn't know what to do with them. A Hobie is a great little boat to have fun. And they're faaaaaast!

Zadar has a few marinas and the one our boat has its 'home' is not too large (to put it mildly). A matter of more boatlength than water... Leaving the pier (and returning on Friday) is a puzzle. A bow thruster is your best companion... My wife does the maneuvering - I am on the deck with extra fenders and calling the distance. She made clear that she wouldn't mind a few tricks from the owner when we left. He stepped on board and got off again within 25m. saying: "You're good, I trust you! Nothing I can teach you. " (Needless to say that I had that thrown into my face later... "That guy who doesn't know me, tells me right away how good I am. You on the other hand..."). The division of tasks comes from the first time we sailed together. She had (has) tons/miles of experience resulting in a handful of RYA certificates. I only sailed small boats and dinghies. It was obvious that she was in charge. And we're happy with that. Steering, course etc is hers. Winches, hoisting sails and adjusting + muscle-power related stuff is mine.

2 persons on a 11+ yacht is doable, but you have to know what you're doing and what you task is. And you can learn from watching! I must admit that we copied two German couples with a 50ft (15m) yacht. We were in a bay for the night together and we started talking: one couple were the sailors, the other couple had never sailed before. Next morning the left before us and before they left the bay, they practiced 'backing up towards a buoy with strong wind with the use of the thrusters'. As said, we copied their training when we left.

Basically, when you're able to sail (e.g.) the Irish Sea during the summer, you'll be able to sail in Croatia as well.

Sounds like a great holiday :-)

Good read and glad you had a great time. My youngest has bought a 37' Camper and Nicholson with 5 friends and is currently learning to sail it with a view to sailing it across the Med and possibly on to Australia next year. I'm trepidatious as he's got limited experience but they're currently learning around summer Scottish Islands so we'll see how the big plan develops!

Met my wife sailing in Croatia 10 years ago, we are heading back out there next week on annew Beneteau Oceanis 54.
However, we haven't had any delivery photos so I hope it's made it out of the factory for us!


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Experience, experience (or miles and miles) is very important when it comes to sailing. Every mile you sail has an educational moment. It's important to understand that. Point is: sometimes you need someone who tells you what you can learn from certain situations. As I said: even we, with tons of experience, look closely how other tackle a mooring etc, simply because our tidal moorings are different from what we encountered in Croatia. When finished for the day, we discussed the various situations and how we managed to solve the problem.

Then: the material/quality of the ship. Friends of ours wanted to travel the world. They bought a solid ship and another friend rigged it for the trip with everything they needed. He said: "It's a good ship, it's safe but by the time they come back, they can throw away the boat. It will be at the end of its life cycle after so many miles." Some ships are built to last = even after their return to the UK.

And I would certainly not make that long trip without some medium-range (what's in a name...) trips. An example: sailing from the UK to the Baltic Sea is pretty hairy when you opt for the German Bight (Helgoland Bight) route. That's an interesting test. Search for German Bight on the internet and you get the picture. I know experienced Dutch sailors who tend to take the long route: straight to the north and a turn to the east under Norway...

Menno, all comments appreciated and I'm trying to influence safety from the sidelines because I've no sailing experience and he's not daft but he is a risk taker and surrounded by like minded (potentially over) confident young men.

As a professional father and amateur sailor, I must say that I understand your dilemma!

We are doing Croatia this summer,not sailing.
Really looking forward to it has we’ve never been before.


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Originally Posted by mk1974

We are doing Croatia this summer,not sailing.
Really looking forward to it has we’ve never been before.


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I have, of course, only seen a fraction of the country. But what I've seen and experienced: I like it. People are friendly but 'reserved' (not bad in my book). The younger generation's English is very good. The landscape looks like Italy in the summer but without the cypresses. Fresh food is awesome, there are Lidl stores where you can buy everything. Prices are significantly lower than we're used to (thinking that UK and Dutch prices are about the same). We cooked our own dinners on the boat, we went to 2 restaurants in total during the week and both times we were positively surprised: quality, taste-wise & the bill was a lot lower than the prices of Dutch restaurants. Bonus: you can drink the water from the tap!

If you're into history: the story is that a lot of Roman Legionairs were given a stretch of land to work on after their time in the Legion. Lots of these hand-outs(...) are in -what's now- Croatia. We were told that some vineyards are founded by ex-legionairs and still exist today! And I can understand why; Croatian wine tastes very good.

Mind you: off the beaten track (like on the smaller islands - but I suppose also inland), stores are not open all day. People have other jobs and run a 'supermarket' as a sideline: open during a few hours in the morning and evening. Stock is limited but we could always buy fresh vegs bread and... wine.

In Zadar, we used Ubers but traffic looks to be normal. No weird driving or excessive speeding. There's a mix of old 'bangers' and brand-new (mostly) German wheels. Like you find on the Canary Islands or the Spanish Costas.

A few things we noticed: a lot of people smoke, but not the younger ones; we have not seen overweight children of young adults; not a lot of overweight people in general I would add; young people have phones but are not glued to the screens. The look each other in the face when talking. (How sad is it that we noticed 'normal behaviour'...?)

I’m doing a bit of a tour from split to budva in montenegro,so hopefully I should see a bit of it .


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We’ve just come back yesterday from Dubrovnik for 4 nights, it’s an absolutely stunning place and I will definitely go back sometime.


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We were looking this morning at hotels in Split and surrounding areas, it looks a beautiful part of the world so will do some more TripAdvisor research..


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