Regatta of boats with lug sails
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The Association of “Batana House,” in cooperation with the Nautical Club “Maestral Ronhill,” staged the fourth regatta of vessels with the square and Latin sails and other traditional ships, which saw the participation of 31 his
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The Association of “Batana House,” in cooperation with the Nautical Club “Maestral Ronhill,” staged the fourth regatta of vessels with the square and Latin sails and other traditional ships, which saw the participation of 31 historical vessels from Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, most so far. Along with two batanas from Rovinj, “Fiamita” and “Calsanta,” constructed during the summer by the town quay, those from Fažana came as well. Old ships from Poreč, Pula, Mošćenićka Draga, Nerezin and the island of Rab appeared too. The organizers were especially pleased to see the gajete from Murter and from Prvić Šepurina. A few ships came from Piran, the sailors of which used to be close friends with those from Rovinj. Attractive topies and bragagnes sailed from Venice, boats which served for sailing across the Venetian lagoon.
The sailboats started swiftly from the buoy below the church of St Euphemius, and sailed next past the isle of Katarina until the buoy below the Mount of Montauro in the wooded reserve of Zlatni rt. Proud owners of these vessels exhibited their skill of managing sails, while on-lookers from the quay and the sea, especially those from excursion ships, watched the rare sight of old vessels competing. The smaller pier included the folk band “Batana,” who accompanied the regatta with music. The founder of the band, also a secretary for the “Batana House,” Riccardo Bosazzi, spoke of the regatta and historical vessels competing to the folk of Rovinj and their guests.
The townsmen, as an aside, initiated their regatta having the Venetian one as the model, where they participate each year, invited by the local club of “Vela al terzo.” This is one of activities created five years ago, when the association promoting fishing and naval heritage of Rovinj was founded. Venetians were the first who supported the regatta by coming with their historical vessels. The sponsor of this year’s regatta is the Town of Rovinj, while other benefactors include the Tourist Board of the County of Istarska, Maistra and the ACI marina, which provided free mooring to participating guests.
After the regatta, the participants, together with their hosts, went through the museum of the “Batana House,” and in the evening, the awards being given, they participated in the party organised by the sea at Matika, at Švalbina Street. Among the shortest boats, “Marinka” with Ante Tržop came first. The batanas of Rovinj, “Calsanta” with the Venier brothers and “Fiamita” with the duo Sponza-Dandolo came second and third. In the category of slightly longer boats, the famous family of shipbuilders Španjol from Rab won. The winners in quite long classes were the “Old Tomcat” of Janez Šabec, “Pussycat” of Valter Galati, “Mafalda” of Pietro Fabris, “Levante” of Silvio Di Testo, “Cristina II” of Marzio Tessario; while, among the largest sailboats, the “Adriatic” of Bojan Škočević came first. The winners were congratulated on behalf of the organisers by the president of the association “Batana House” Valerio Drandić and deputy mayor Marino Budicin.
As an introduction to the evening party, the venue façade saw the exhibition of the Dalamatian from Rovinj Gordan Ulić and Boško Lučev from the island of Prvić by Šibenik entitled “Hoist the sails.” These are but two sides of the same story. In Šepurine at Prvić, the historical vessels regatta was recorded by Boško Lučev from Šibenik, and Gordan Ukić did the same in Rovinj. Their joint exhibition was presented at Švalba, and you can still get to see it in the museum of the “Batana House” during the next few days.
Budicin pointed out the goal of the association is to organise a historical regatta of vessels from the entire Eastern shores of the Adriatic, similar to the one held in Venice, which boasts hundreds of years of tradition and gathers a hundred thousand of visitors. Historical regattas are so far being held on Vis, Murter, Prvić and Rovinj.
At Matika and on ships that anchored in front of it, accompanied by the sounds of the folk band Batina, more than a hundred sailors competing in front of Rovinj partied. All of them were fed by Gianni Bernazza, Sergio and Marisa Ferarra, who prepared fish in the traditional manner in a makeshift venue balcony kitchenette.
