Sailing from Dubrovnik to Split and Brač

As the 39th Južnodalmatinska(South Dalmatian Regatta) finished, the First Seascape 24 „Ultra Ribica“ had to be brought home in Split. In a 5 day returning cruise with stops on islands Mljet, Korčula, Šćedro , and Vis, „Ultra Ribica“ also participated in Little Night Regatta on the island of Brač.

Departing from Dubrovnik at 4 p.m. and due to lack of wind, we couldn’t set sails until we passed the Koločep Channel. After leaving behind the Koločep Channel and island of Jakljan we sailed for an hour and a half until we reached the bay Prožura on the island of Mljet.

Easily recognizable by the three small islands at the entrance to the bay, Prožura is also a host place on the second day of the Južnodalmatinska regatta. As the forecast predicted a calm night, most of the boats were anchored in the eastern side of the bay, while the western part containing a dozen buoys was nearly empty.

Early in the morning, we headed to the island Korčula. We anchored at the small island Badija, right next to the island of Korčula and took great advantage of the small sailboat; the possibility of anchoring close to the shore. That way we were out of the crowd and could enjoy a splendid view of the turquoise sea and the Franciscan monastery on the island of Badija.

Since the anchorage in Badija is charged per night, we decided to spend a night in the port of Orebić, whereas a free of charge place in port was secured for the participants of Južnodalmatinska regatta.  Orebić is placed on the peninsula of Pelješac and is looking right at the island of Badija and city of Korčula. Since the First Seascape has a great advantage of moving the keel up, we easily managed to find a good spot in a pretty shallow port of Orebić.

The next morning, as the forecast predicted, the South wind called Jugo started blowing. Sailing downwind, we quickly left behind the peninsula of Pelješac and the island of Korčula and found a safe berth in the bay of Lovišće on the island of Šćedro.

The port of Lovisce has been known as a safe anchorage since ancient times. Today it is possible to anchor in it or to catch one of the buoys. The buoy system is slightly different from elsewhere, namely the bow of the ship is tied to one buoy, while the stern is tied to another “corpomorto” (mooring) and the bows of all boats are turned to face the possible storm from the north.

Next day, the Southwind Jugo was still blowing so we set sails and sailed downwind to the island of Vis. Since there were 20knots of wind and a lot of waves, we reached the island of Vis very quickly, in just two hours. Since the wind was still pretty strong and we wanted to leave the boat on a safe mooring, we took one of the buoys, which was charged 100kunas for a small boat.

Tomorrow morning we started our way to Brač and Pequena regatta notturna. Anchoring a quiet port of Bobovišće for the night, and then heading to a morning swim in bay of Lovrečina. As soon as Lovrečina bay was full of boats that came for a full day’s swim, we headed to Postira where preparation for the Little Night Regatta began.