Adria 2021 autumn

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Published: Tuesday, 02 November 2021 09:11

Report on the Balaton Table's Autumn Sea Tour 2021.10.25-30.

Participants:

Phoenix, captain of the Balaton Table

Lupo di Mare

Predator

Vagabond

Dr. Péter Husztár aspirant, and his captive Piroska

As planned, the minibus driven by Captain Phoenix arrived in Nagykanizsa at 9 am on the 25th with our aspirant and his captive, and picked up Predator and Vagabund. This completed the travelling party, as Lupo was already waiting for our arrival on board the Sea Star. We departed at 9.20am and after a smooth border crossing and uneventful journey, we arrived in Kastela, the summer at 3pm. After packing, we made a collective decision to drive to Split to visit the World Heritage Palace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. The emperor retired from politics in 305 AD and lived in the palace until his death in 311 AD. The remains of the palace form an important part of the old town centre of Spliti today. Quote from Wikipedia:

"Life in the palace did not end with the death of Emperor Diocletian in 311. The alterations began in the first centuries of the palace's history. Since it was owned by the Roman emperors, it provided a refuge for exiled members of the imperial family. The next important event was the destruction of the city of Salona (now Split) by the barbarians in the early 6th century, when some of the exiled population found refuge within the palace walls and a new, organised urban life began here.

During the Middle Ages, between the 12th and 14th centuries, there was a significant architectural development, when a large number of medieval houses filled not only the Roman buildings but also most of the open spaces of the streets and arcades. The Romanesque bell tower of St. Dujam's Cathedral was built during this period. Romanesque art is also represented by the works of great masters such as Andrija Buvina, who made the wooden doors of the cathedral in the 13th century, and Juraj Dalmatinac, whose architectural workshops built the magnificent Venetian Gothic and Renaissance noble palaces. The masterpiece of the cathedral is the altarpiece of St Stephen.

The church of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice is known to have been built partly from the stone blocks of the eight towers of Diocletian's Palace and the north and east walls, which were demolished by order of the Venetian governor Alvise Zorzi.

Since the 7th century, the palace has been part of the city of Split, which has expanded westwards since the early Middle Ages and has been walled in on several occasions. Adaptations of the sacral buildings of the palace can be found in the Cathedral and Baptistery of Split, the early Romanesque churches of St. Martin and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin of the Tower and several early Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance buildings, which bear witness to the continuous life of the city and the emergence of new lifestyles, which, together with the remaining parts of the Diocletian's Palace, constitute the greatest treasures of the architectural heritage."

The group, tired of their cultural wanderings, quenched their thirst with a few beers on the promenade before returning to the port.

The day concluded with a dinner prepared by Brother Vagabund.

Everyone enjoyed the golumpki served, but there was still some left for breakfast. The evening continued with wine drinking at the table, during which we decided on the itinerary for the tour.

 Here it is:

Kastela-Vis-Primosten-Maslinica-Kastela, ~100 nm.

The team retired.

On the 26th, we huddled together between 7 and 8 in the morning, consumed the remaining golumpki and some cold food.We didn't manage to fully live up to the expectations, which became common, but we only suspected that at the time... Finally, after 3 Na! at 10 am, we set off for Vis on the boat, because summer was raging.  The sun was shining brightly and the air temperature was 22°C. Beyond the islands, the westerly wind started to blow, so we set sail and sailed all the way to the middle of the Bay of Vis. After dismasting, we moored up, scouted the area and tucked into a delicious meal of impeccable salmon stew prepared by our brother Predator. Of course, this time we didn't fully live up to the offerings...

After 2-3 "Na!" during the evening chat, we retired.

The morning of the 27th was similar to the previous day, except that breakfast was a pile of sausages and venison sausages cooked by our brother Predator. He only fried half of them, we planned to supplement our dinner with the other half.....

In a very light breeze and bright sunshine, we set off at 10am for Primosten, on motorbikes of course. After an hour of motoring, the wind picked up from the northeast, so we set sail. We were able to sail for 1 hour in variable winds, then the wind changed its mind, weakened and blew off to the west, opposite to our course. We pulled in the sails and motored on. There was room in Primosten, we were moored at 4pm and headed up the hill to the cemetery and church. After wandering around the town, we replenished our lost energy with pelinkovacs at the beach café.

The main course for dinner was bolognese macaroni, with leftover sausages and sausages as starters. After some red wine we retired.

On the morning of the 28th, we woke up to still beautiful weather, but no wind. After breakfast, Na!, coffee, and shopping (fresh bread, milk), we had a quick breakfast and at 10 am we set off by motorbike to Maslinica. On the way we stopped at Kremik marina, which was full of boats. They were moored on floating pontoons, not on the moorings common in other marinas. The floating pontoons were installed by the Fa boat company.

We motored on into a light headwind and encountered a small pod of dolphins near the large island of Drvenik. There were perhaps 5 or 6 of them and they were feeding diligently. We circled around them for a while, taking photos and videos, then continued on our way. We arrived in Maslinica around 4pm, and there was plenty of room in the harbour. After docking, Lupo and Red Riding Hood were swimming in the sea, they said the water temperature was around 20°C. In the evening, our Captain Phoenix had dinner with a mozzarella cheese and onion soup, the starter was leftover Bolognese macaroni. After a discussion of the next day's tasks, the team retired.

On the morning of the 29th, Lupo's difficult night was the main topic of conversation. According to him, the onion and cheese main course had taken on a life of its own inside him, and was in no way able to synchronise basic life functions. Let's call the consequences restless, without going into specific details. He did, however, recover after breakfast, Na! After the morning dew had dried up, we took off and folded the sails and the rubber dinghy, took off the bimini and spray hood. Lupo wanted to bring the sails home as samples to sew new ones, but we talked him out of it. Well, not about bringing them home, but about making new ones, because there is nothing wrong with the sails apart from reinforcing the seams and re-sewing them. After packing up and paying the harbour dues, we motored to Rogac at 11am to refuel. We arrived at ½ past 1pm, moored to the seawall, but the well didn't open until 2pm. Luckily there was a terrace café right next to it, where we sat down and waited with coffee and beer. After filling up with 51 litres of diesel, we motored back to Kastela and moored. We loaded our sails and rubber boat into the minibus and after changing, we went for dinner at a restaurant called "Ballet School". Nice environment, delicious food and reasonable prices. After dinner, back on the boat, we discussed getting up at 7am the next day and an early start.

On the 30th we did indeed get up on time, packed, had scrambled eggs a'la Lupo for breakfast, bought olive oil, unloaded the table and put it in the bus, tidied up, unloaded the outboard motor, etc. and left for home at ~ ¼ 11. With light traffic and one stop at 16:00, we arrived in Nagykanizsa, where my captive greeted the team with grief cookies. After the cookies, the rest of the team moved on, but the chronicler cannot report on the rest of the event as he was not present.

To sum up, I spent the time in a very good atmosphere with pleasant companions, thank you for letting me sail with you, I can't complain about anything. Only the wind. Or rather, the lack of wind. But, as we old clamshell sailors know, this is not a wishful thinking show...

2021.11.02.

Vagabund