Ultra Figaro adventure: Sailing from Dubrovnik to Split

One more South Dalmatian regatta has finished; the regatta is organized by the Orsan sailing club in Dubrovnik with 45 registered sailing boats. Our skipper, Emil Tomasevic, sailed away alone, and we embarked the Ultra Figaro at the end of the regatta.

First, I would like to say that sailing from Split to Dubrovnik is always inspiring, no matter the fact that the Ultra Figaro sailing boat does not offer much luxury and its “captain” has his rules. However, it is summer time so you can more easily adjust in different conditions.

As usual, the winner of the regatta was proclaimed the last evening in the beautiful Lapad Hotel. A very nice party lasted till early morning hours and the next day we had to go pick up our fourth member of the crew in Korcula, 40 nautical miles from Dubrovnik.

Through the years you somehow get used to receiving guests during shorter or longer trips. These guests used to be our friends and now they are more and more the children of our friends. With young people everything is discovered again from the beginning and they are honoured to have chosen us for their sea adventures.

In the evening we arrived in Korcula sailing close hauled. In peak season, no inflatable boat and no gangway, yet we managed to get a mooring in the ACI Marina Korcula and all this thanks to the acquaintances. Reservations can normally be made online and ACI charges a bit more for this. We didn’t even tie the boat and there were already skippers we have known for years. Besides them, it was mostly the French people who stopped in front of the boat and they know very well what a Figaro is. But it was probably the first time that they saw a Figaro cruising line, with an inflatable mattress as an extra bed, waiting for the fourth member of the crew.

Korcula seems the most beautiful in the world every time we are there. The town is known for Marco Polo’s birth house, a merchant and an adventurer from the 13^th century. Over the years spent in captivity, Marco Polo told his companion of all his travels and adventures from the distant China; of all these the most interesting is his stay at the court of the Chinese-Mongolian emperor Kublai-Khan where he even became an imperial official. When the book The Million was published, it became very popular because it described the unseen places in that time. Supposedly, it also inspired Columbus and the other seamen of that time to set out on a journey into the unknown.

The old town of Korcula is perfect for taking a walk. Due to the draught, Korcula was built in a way that the narrow side streets branch off from the central street. This year it was surprising that there was no crowd which is usual in the peak season. We found very quickly a place in the restaurant and the line in the supermarket was not long. I would like to single out the Vapor Gallery as a place of beautiful and interesting exhibition pieces.

Korcula very often inspires artists. On of them, Dragan Lukic – Luky, with whom we also had a cup of coffee, is a known Croatian singer, composer and producer. I have known him since he was part of the Davoli band which we listened to as teenagers, in the 90’s he was a producer of my favourite rap band The Beat Fleet (TBF) and his own albums Ararita and V.I.T.R.I.O.L. I hope he forgives me for mentioning him but he has impressed me with his lifestyle characteristic of the island people in Korcula; fishing, simple life and the sea.

Leaving Korcula, we decided not to take the usual route Korcula – Scedro – Hvar but to visit the peninsula of Peljesac and the eastern side of the island of Brac.

The Loviste bay is located at the very peak of Peljesac. We stopped in the left part called Mirci where morring is allowed, you are not charged for anything and the sea is clean. The Bili Dvori restaurant is a good choice and it has several buoys. You cannot go wrong with minced meat. The very place is not that interesting after having visited Korcula, it is full of unfinished houses but you can spend there a peaceful night on the boat and buy some bread in the morning.

Our next destination was Pucisca on the island of Brac. This old village is known for its quarry, the Stone Mason High School and the fact that it was burned to the ground in WW2 as a punishment for getting drunk and then robbing the Italian soldiers. These hardworking villagers restored all of their houses, so you get blinded by the whiteness of the stone which you can see everywhere: on their walls, roofs, even the public lighting and the showers on the beach are made of stone. Just like the last time we were here, the captain Marinovic held our ropes. This is a village with no crowds, in which instead of noise you hear the students playing music; here you can sit all day in the garden of a restaurant with free Internet access and nice staff and the mooring with electricity and water doesn’t cost much (150 kuna for a 10 m boat). Luckily, this village is not a popular charter place so we see it as an oasis in the peak of the season. We’ll come even next year!

Here we are at the final point, Postira on the island of Brac in which the sailor Igor Piacun organizes his Postira Night Regatta. This year there were about 10 sailing boats, all ready for a party in the harbour under the spotlights. The winner was Ufo with a crew from the Split Sailing Club. It seemed like there were less people than last year due to the colder weather but it did not stop us from having a good time, especially those under 18. Igor has once again organized a very interesting event.