Thousand Islands Race - Overall

10th Thousand Islands Regatta © Sailing Club of Rijeka

Rijeka - Tivat - Rijeka

Thousand Islands Race is like any sailboat race, small or big: preparation, challenge, adventure, respect for nature and concern for the safety of the boat and the crew. All this was demonstrated by this year's jubilee 10th edition of the regatta, which passes between more than 1,000 islands in the Croatian part of the Adriatic, and which brings something new every year, attracting 77 sailboats from 17 countries in the past 10 editions.

This year, there were 7 boats at the start in Rijeka, both legs will be talked about for a long time as completely opposite, summarizing the essence of navigational sailing. After the slowest first leg in the 10 years so far, which required a lot of patience and fighting with strong winds, the weather forecast before the second leg from Tivat to Rijeka announced completely opposite conditions with a strong southerly (jugo) in the southern Adriatic and a transition to northerly (bura) in the central and northern Adriatic.

The start in front of the Porto Montenegro marina in the entire Boka Kotor Bay reminded of the first stage while the boats' speed did not exceed 3 knots. By going around the southernmost point of Croatian coast from the exit to the open sea towards the islet of St. Andrija weather forecast proved to be accurate. A strong southerly even caused technical problems on the boat "Emilia", which had to give up first and diverged from its course to Dubrovnik.

The Austrian "Istros" went through a storm near the Paklin Islands where she had to start the engine for safety and everything went well. However, after puffs reached more than 30 knots, the helmsman and crew, not willing to stress the boat that was rented only for this regatta, decided to give up for safety reasons and took refuge in Šibenik.

The winner of the first leg, the Slovenian "Karpo" with a two-member crew consisting of father and son Maks and Matic Vrecko, remained the only one still racing with a strong desire and will to reach the finish line in Rijeka. After fighting first with the south and then with hard wind and sea with only two crew members throughout the night, at 05:41 "Karpo" sent a message to the race committee: "We tried to pass through the Vir Sea while there was a 25-35 knot gale, now it increased to 35 - 44 knots and continue sailing in such conditions, unfortunately, is no longer possible. The waves are up to 2 meters and the sailboat experienced several strong hits. With the forecast we have that the wind will not weaken soon, the decision to retire from the second leg is the only prudent one. We are going back towards Zadar."

Thus, the second leg of this year's race will be recorded as the first that no one finished. The safety of sailboats and crews comes first, and all decisions to retire are made based on the correct assessments of the helmsman and crews. The results of the first leg thus became the final ones, where the leaderboard of the Thousand Islands Race is:

1. Karpo, Elan 450, Max Vrecko, Slovenia
2. Emilia, X4.6, Alfred Vorderegger, Austria
3. Talanta, Pogo 40 S2, Micheal Puehse, Austria

Regardless of all the adversities and difficult conditions, organisers are keen to welcome all the crews to participate in the regatta next year announced for 14-23 September 2024, and we hope that the soon opening of the ACI Gitone marina in Rijeka will create attractive environment and conditions for larger fleets in the years to come. Results here.

Find out more here.