Let’s go to Croatia! Really?

By Walter Hardin, Blue Ridge Chapter

Yes, really. My wife Jane and I wanted to visit our dear friends of 45 years, Peggy and Michael Gerling near Munich, Germany, and take a driving trip somewhere in Europe to a place that we had never been. Our friends suggested Croatia. Not a spot that Jane nor I had ever been or even thought about going to see. So, last June, we flew into the Munich airport and spent a couple of days with our friends then hit the Autobahn and headed to Rovinj (pronounced Rovinia) Croatia on the Istrian Peninsula on the Adriatic Sea. It’s a lovely unspoiled area. A group of developers bought large properties in Rovinj and built several resort complexes. Part of their aim was not to gentrify the area but to provide for the less fortunate. They made sure that housing and employment was inclusive and affordable. The town was picturesque and full of beautiful buildings and architecture. The tourists there were primarily German, Austrian, Italian, and British. We didn’t see or hear any other Americans and felt like we’d stumbled upon a vacation utopian experience. Everyone we met was extremely nice.

Our friends had friends who grew up in the area and although, in retirement they lived in Austria, had a vacation place in Rovinj. Vladimir and Sladjana Boras treasured Rovinj. It did not take us long to see why. Vladimir was an antique boat owner and had a 1954 Leut which he had restored. My boat is a 1955 model, so we had a great time exchanging restoration photos of our boats. His boat is a beautiful sailing, fishing, and cargo hauling boat of about seven meters (around 21’). The beam is typically about a third of the length or around 7’. The bow has a pulpit with a rounded stem and she is equipped with a 40 HP three cylinder Yanmar Diesel engine. The boat is made from oak built by an individual shipbuilder from Boka, Montenegro, and Vladimir keeps her in the water year-round to keep the boards swollen and free from leaks.

The Adriatic Sea environment did not seem as salty as we Americans are used to and there were no signs of the corrosion we experience on our boats. Vladimir purchased the boat from an aging collector several years back and restored her himself. She easily handled our five passengers and it was a steady cruiser. He primarily used her under power and used the mast, which would normally have a Lateen sail for tacking, to hold a flat canopy over the seating area acting as a Bimini.

We had an excursion day. Vladimir took us on a trip around the peninsula to a Fjord (yes, Croatia has a Fjord). It was as you would imagine. High banks on either side with rock outcroppings and lots of trees and crystal clear waters running about 12 kilometers inland. It had numerous commercial oystering beds along the banks and we continued through the Fjord to a small complex with docks for oyster harvesting and a restaurant interestingly enough called the “The Viking”. Vladimir told us at this point that this area was used to film the 1959 movie ‘The Vikings’ with Tony Curtis, Kurt Douglas and Ernest Borgnine. Wow! I thought it looked strangely familiar and that movie was one of my all-time favorites. I could see Kurt Douglas’s character Inar running along the oars to show his prowess as they returned from a raid. Vladimir recounted tales of how he and his friends played in the remains of the old village set until local authorities had to demolish it as it had become an “attractive nuisance”.

The area has used the Leut and also similar boats called Batana’s for countless years and generations and they were plentiful. I tried to talk him into starting a Istrian Peninsula chapter of the ACBS. He related how there were clubs for collectors already. Surely one more club couldn’t hurt in such a beautiful area devoted to boating on such stunning waters.

It was a memorable trip and we hope to visit there again.