Our ticket for access to the Kornati National Park expired today, so we had to leave. It was tempting to pay for an extension, but we recognised that we were starting to run low on food, and one of the weather forecasts indicated some stronger winds in a day or two, while the other was for a dead calm. We tend to react to the most adverse weather forecast, so started to move back towards Biograd na Maru, our current “home”.
On the way though we had time for one more night away, so we
headed to a bay on Otok Zirje. Once we had left the confines of the channel
through the islands at the southern end of Kornati, we had a nice wind and were
soon making very good progress across the 4 or 5 miles to Zirje. Approaching the
northern tip, we spotted what appeared to be a racing fleet, with their spinnakers
up, coming towards us. Being considerate
and responsible folks, we decided to clear out of their way, while guessing
where they were actually going. Zirje is
an island big enough to have a race around and there are plenty of other small
islands and large rocks that could equally well be used. The 4 identical boats came around the tip of Zirje,
and then their spinnakers started to come down, although not as rapidly as we
had expected. There seemed to be a long
gap with no headsails at all, and the leading boats seemingly stopped in the
water. We had started to get our sails
down by this time as we were near our destination, and even after they had
passed us, we joked that we could probably give them a good race. Their slightly
erratic course setting also told a story of lack of experience of racing.
It soon became apparent that they were heading for the same
bay as us, and so we followed them in. There were plenty of spare buoys, so
there was no problem. As we came past we heard English being spoken, and
exchanged a few words with a couple of them.
There seemed to be about 5 guys on each boat and all had identical
shirts on. We were still speculating
whether this was a sailing club or racing week.
Once we were moored we heard some of the explanations of what to do
being given and concluded that it was probably some sort of management team
building exercise, with both novice and more experienced sailors. They stayed for lunch then all headed off
again, presumably for the afternoons race.
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| Probably the best mooring buoys we have seen in Croatia so far |
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| Moonrise |
The bay was empty of other yachts, but 3 or 4 arrived independently later in the day. The owner of the buoy concession came round to collect the mooring fees, and we had a long conversation with him about everything from the price of the mooring to the meaning of life!
Miles Today - 11
Miles 2022 – 1367
Steve (and Tricia)
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