Last week we received the invitation from Plamenko Bavcevic to participate in the 2nd Rota Palagruzona – a traditional boat event starting on Hvar Island, crossing to Komiza, on Vis Island and then crossing to remote Palagruza Island.

Professor Josko Bozanic started the regatta to honor the old fisherman who used to make the marathon journey from Komiza to Palagruza to take advantage of the rich fishing grounds. (The currents of the Adriatic Sea sweep up the rocky islet from the depths bringing nutrients with them – attracting fish from all around.)

Last year we took the Labud to Komiza to take part in the crossing. Unfortunately we had some mechanical issues – so it would not have been safe for us to take-on the 45 nautical miles of open sea – but as it turned out the weather was against the rest of the fleet, and no one went.

Instead a small race was organized to Brusnik Island.

That night, upon the boats’ return, a festival was held in Komiza, with a presentation, klapa (traditional singing) and a brudet (fish stew) cook-off.

This year the regatta will be from 20th – 25th June. It will coincide with one of our Vis and Hvar Islands Kayak Adventures.

More information about the fishermen of Komiza and crossing to Palagruza can be found in articles Ray Fusco and I wrote about our attempt to cross the Adriatic by kayak – here and here.

Split’s adventurous couple, Tonka Alujević and Alen Krstulović, last night presented the documentary for their last adventure – rowing and sailing their renovated 1936 2.9m guc (shown above) 550 nautical miles through France’s Canal du Midi, from the Mediterranean Sea to Atlantic Ocean, and finishing in Brest for the International Maritime Festival last year.

The website for the guc project is here and the other website for all of Tonka’s and Alen’s adventures, such as riding their BMW motorcycle around the Mediterranean, is here.

Their presentation was part of the Dani Hrvatske Male Brodogradnje (Croatian Small Boat Days) held at the Le Meridien Grand Hotel Lav. This small fair was held just after the Croatia Boat Show in Split – its big, but not as handsome, brother.

This year, its 11th, the Croatia Boat Show, from the outside, seemed a disaster. The number of exhibitors was down (and I assume the number of buyers) due to the world’s financial concerns, but it didn’t help that Huey, the weather god, sent rain squalls and fog for the whole week.

Aklie, the boat show critic, only liked two things – the Aston Martin DBS and the ‘pirate boat’ (really the Tirena, a replica of a 16th Century Ragusan galleon). Slim pickings indeed!

Our crazy picigin (a type of Dalmatian water-based handball)-playing friend Julio Žuvela (pictured above playing the sport) was mentioned in the Daily Telegraph for a bicycle tour through the Croatian Islands that he leads. The article can be found here.

Maybe ‘sport’ is the wrong term for picigin. It is not a competition – more of a pursuit for participants and a performance for spectators. It was invented in the shallows of Bacvice Beach, in Split. The aim is for the 5 people involved is to keep the small ball aloft – but they don’t necessarily want to make the job easy for their colleagues – instead the desire is to hit the ball into a spot that allows their friends to display their acrobatic prowess whilst stopping it landing in the water.

It could be described as the local mating dance!

Miquel Hudin, an American with Croatian heritage, and his wife have completed a handy guide to the wines of Dalmatia and Herzegovina. Hopefully this will lead to a greater appreciation for them, and the local producers will enjoy a little healthy criticism.

You can find out how to purchase it here.

They also publish an Epicurian, Hedonistic blog here.

On Sunday Nicolas Sarkozy launched the Mediterranean Union, saying, “Our common Sea should bring us closer together, not separate us.”

Sarkozy’s idea for the union is of a community similar but looser to the European Union, made-up of 43 EU-member states and non-EU countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. He hopes the MU will become a vehicle through which peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours can be achieved. It is hoped that an institutional core will be established by the end of the French presidency of the European Union in 2008.

Member states would form a regular council under a rotating presidency similar to the current EU model. The Mediterranean and European Unions would also work together and share some institutions, including a common judicial area to fight corruption, terrorism, organized crime and people smuggling.

Sarkozy’s quote is very similar to a local Dalmatian saying, “Staviš prst u more i osetiš svet,” which is roughly translated as, “Put your finger in the sea and you are connected to the world.” The sea has always been a great bridge between cultures.

The working classes across the Mediterranean even had their own language – the original Lingua Franca. It was a mixed language composed mostly of Italian with a vocabulary drawn from Persian, French, Greek and Arabic. Lingua Franca literally means “Frankish language”, which came from the Arabic custom of referring to all Europeans as Franks. This language was used for communication around the medieval and early modern Mediterranean as a trade language.

Lingua Franca is the mother of all pidgin languages. As it was known by the Mediterranean sailors, when they started exploring the seas of Africa, America, Asia and Oceania, they tried to communicate with the natives by mixing a Portuguese-influenced version of Lingua Franca with the local languages.

The language was used until the 19th Century, when it disappeared, probably under the onslaught of the triumphant French language. It was never written. There was never any poetry, folktales, or translation of the Bible created using it. It was just a way to sell the merchandise you had to offer, or haggle for a better price on its purchase.

Komiski dialect (the unique language of those from Komiža) still contains many words from Lingua Franca. When Joško took the falkuša to Expo 98 in Portugal he was able to communicate his boat-handling commands to the local fishermen.

It is a paradox that the world isolated is derived from the Latin insula meaning island. Yet islanders have always been more open than those from the continent.

Split suffers even today from the conflict between these two mentalities – the world view of seafarers and the tribal view of land-lubbers. The Spličani (people born in Split) and the bodol (islanders) regularly clash with the vlaj (people from the continental-side of the Dinaric Alps). Split has gone from a population at the end of WW2 of 40 000 to today’s population of 250 000. The biggest influx has been from ‘behind-the-hills’. The vlaj suffered from 500 years of the fear of Turkish raiders cutting their throats as they slept. Their extended families (or tribes) were the only ones that could be trusted. This idea seems now to have been grafted onto their genes. Since moving to Split they still don’t trust strangers and act very much within their ‘tribal groups’.

Growing up around water definitely seems to make people more relaxed – maybe the Mediterranean can help finally solve the Israeli/Arab problem.

For our last kayak tour (see subsequent posts) we were not able to use the Falkuša Comeza-Lisboa as a support boat. Joško and the crew are currently in Brest, France for the International Maritime Festival. The Festival is like the Olympics of tall-ship regattas. It is held every 4 years, and at this year’s event they are expecting 3 000 boats and almost 1 000 000 visitors.

Croatia has the status of a special country this year. Joško rounded-up 10 traditional boats as well as 150 crew and performers. His idea was to create a Dalmatian village in the middle of the festival. His website is here.

The picture above shows the Comeza-Lisboa and the Molo (a half-size replica of the original designed for educating youngsters on) at the regatta. And below is a short documentary made by French television about the Croatian entries and their construction.

Tonight our friends Jane Cody and John Nash had the official Croatian launch of their book, Croatia Cruising Companion. Jane also did some writing for the new Timeout Croatia magazine, and she presented it as well to the audience of marina representatives and tourism agencies.

The Cruising Companion took Jane and John several years to research – they visited every bay of significance from Zadar to the south. For each they produced anchorage charts as well as wrote lengthy descriptions on available facilities – such as our laundrette in Split.

The book is perfect for those coming here to rent a yacht and visit the Dalmatian Islands. It is currently ranked #3 for both books on Croatia and those on sailing on Amazon.com.

Timeout Croatia has a thicker guide magazine again this year. More stories and more information are crammed inside. One of our kayaking pictures, taken on a tour around Vis and Hvar Islands, appears in the adventure section.

Warm spring day; the crack of leather on willow followed by polite applause from the crowd; men dressed-up like modern day white knights in helmets and padded armor; picnic blankets and coolers filled with wine, brie and crackers – yesterday anyone would think we were enjoying watching cricket in the English countryside.

Amazingly the game was being played right here in Split between the local Split Sir Oliver Cricket Club and the Further Friars Cricket Club, a traveling team from England consisting of gents in the wine industry.

Cricket is a game you must grow up with – or the rules will never make sense. We attempted to explain them to the French expats – they just got bored and went home. But there is an historical connection between the French and cricket in this area.

Cricket is not so alien to Dalmatia as could be expected. On Vis Island there is the Sir William Hoste Cricket Club. It is run by Nik Roki and his son Oliver (Oliver was born in Perth before they moved back to the island in the 70′s).

The club’s namesake was an English naval officer stationed on Vis Island for several years at the start of the 19th Century – the English had just kicked the Napoleonic French garrison off the island. (The English called Vis Island the ‘Gibraltar of the Adriatic’ because of its excellent strategic location.)

William decided that the wild Dalmatian island on which he found himself needed a touch of civility – so he started a cricket club. A couple of years back Nik and Oliver re-established it. Oliver usually cooks us an awesome baked lamb ispod peke on their winery whenever we visit Vis with our tour’s guests.

Unfortunately for the visitors yesterday they ended their innings 3 runs shy of the local team. Their next match is to be on Vis this week.

For another perspective on the day’s proceedings visit Jane Cody’s Croatia Online. Jane’s the lovely lady in the picture above, making sure the batsman’s box was properly adjusted!

Time for another Dalmatian dish and appropriate wine. This month’s serving comes from Vis Island – another stop on one of our kayaking tours.
One of the remotest Dalmatian islands, Vis is proud of its fishing heritage. Komiža Pie was a staple of the men sailing their falkuše to the rich fishing grounds surrounding the islet of Palagruža.

Komiža Pie – “Komiska Pogaca”
Dough
1 ¼ cups of warm water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 ¼ tablespoons sugar
3 ¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons olive oil
(roll dough out to be 1.5cm thick)

Filling
2 medium onions – cut in thin rings
4 garlic cloves – finely chopped
pinch salt, pepper and crushed chili to taste
fresh basil roughly chopped
3 tablespoons tomato paste
400g chopped tomatoes – 1 tin
1 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons capers
4 tins sardines in olive oil and lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
Serves 6 people

In a glass bowl dissolve sugar and yeast in the water – set aside for 15 minutes.
Add flour, salt and olive oil to the mixture above – knead for 10 minutes (adding flour if necessary) – use a rolling pin, roll out on flat floured surface.
Roll dough mixture into a ball and place in glass bowl – coat dough surface lightly with olive oil and cover with a damp cloth, set aside for 1 hour.
Mix together in a small bowl, garlic, salt, pepper, chili, tomato paste, tomato puree, chopped tomato’s, olive oil and capers.
Split dough mixture into 2 portions (one portion slightly larger – for top piece of pie).
Roll dough mixture out on flat floured surface.
Coat bottom of tray with thin layer of oil – place rolled dough on flat tray.
Spread tomato mixture onto dough.
Add sardines – breaking into pieces.
Add onions.
Add extra tomato puree if necessary.
Cover with remaining portion of rolled out dough mixture.
Pierce with fork and seal edges.
Baste top of dough with a little oil.
Bake for 30 minutes @ 180 degrees Celsius or until golden.

Vugava (also Bugava)
A long, fertile valley runs down the centre of Vis Island. Winemakers produce the ubiquitous Dalmatian red, plavac, as well as the indigenous white, vugava. The numerous micro-climates of the valley mean good quantities of similar high quality grapes can be hard to grow. Vugava was discovered on the island by the Romans when they arrived. They enjoyed it so much they took vines to France with them – where it became known as viognier.

Wine Maker – Antonio Lipanović
Colour – Honey, lemon, apple juice yellow
Bouquet – Light apricot
Palate – At 14% alcohol, this is a solid yet dry wine with just the right amount of acid to add an edge to the long, clean finish.