Krešimir Đakulović and the Mareus Crew Winners of the 14th Easter Regatta

After yet another one design final race the conclusion is simple - buy the same boats and enjoy sailing! A fleet of equally proficient crews repeated the scenario we enjoyed seeing over the last few years; again five crews qualified for the final race, all with equal chances of winning, and in the first three races there were three different winners. Sailing conditions were not perfect, but they were good enough to enable all four legs to take place. Today, in the first regatta VIP guests were welcomed by the helmsmen and crews aboard their sailboats, so Easter Regatta again opened a new chapter in Croatian yachting. A southward-flowing current was very strong in the middle of the channel causing problems for the crews that failed to take the left side of the course and the battle to the finishing line was the only tactical mission in all of the races. The best tactical move was to "read" the shoreline geometry as good as possible in order to take good position in relation to opponents with as little tacking as possible. Another important segment of today's sailing was having a good "feeling" when steering the relatively heavy Salone 37s.  The strong current showed some bad judgment as to the correct speed and distance to the starting line. Also, jib trimming proved important while the good distribution of body weight helped a little in moving heavy sailboats with just a bit of wind in the sails. The same cause, strong current, made lowering of the spinnaker an uneasy task. The buoys seemed to have taken some crews by surprise… windward marks have been touched by sailboats many times. Judges at sea did an excellent job, because they enabled regattas to go smoothly without any disputable decisions. Krešimir Đakulović and his crew were first to read the course and in the first race of the day they started at the buoy full speed and took the lead easily. Rameša followed by Hajdinjak did a similar thing and the battle for the first prize, a €10000 check, was about to start. Next to the three mentioned competitors, Robert Sandalić and Frane Brate had good chances of winning as well. The resolution of events was very interesting for Hajdinjak and Đakulović after Karlo Kuret's excellent start that reminded of his best days in the Finn class and he took the lead followed by Hajdinjak with a small advantage over Đakulović. In a duel that took place after the boat made a few turns near the shore, Kuret went a bit far and lost the lead and Đakulović managed to come in between Hajdinjak and the cape of Majerovica cove and sail in from the lee side. At the first mark the order was Krešimir Đakulović, Darko Hajdinjak, Karlo Kuret, Robert Sandalić…At the end the overall winner was Đankulović, Hajdinjak came in second and Sandalić third.

The Easter Regatta Organizing Team would like to take this opportunity to thank all competitors for the great turnout and excellent sailing. We wish you success in ORC Croatia Cup and hope to see you all again next year at the 15^th jubilee of Easter Regatta!