TROGIR, CROATIA – This place is starting to feel somewhat like a second home, arriving year after year for some voyaging in the Adriatic Sea. Responsibilities back home in San Francisco allow me just three weeks on the water this year, but
I’ve got another great crew of friends joining. It will take the rest of the week to get Geja ready for action, which will be even less fun that usual given the very hot weather forecast.
(Tuesday, July 30) Touched down at 8:30pm last night after the long flights from San Francisco. Check in as always at Hostel Trogir, where Marin and Ante gave the usual warm welcome. Awake very early (for me) due to jetlag, I was out the door this morning at 7:45am for the five-minute walk to the marina, ready for
a long day of boatyard work. How nice to see all of the boats floating in the marina, their happy charter guests milling about, offering me a preview of the weeks to come. I’m strangely looking forward to all of the setup tasks, which I usually dread.
I could tell from some distance away that Geja was still in her winter position where I left her last August, up on stands in the parking lot. Usually the boatyard crew has her waiting in the water for me. What happened? Oh well, I was still able to get a lot done, including
assembling the new wooden interior electronics panel that I built in my garage back home. The boatyard gang was really friendly when I arrived, and they even completed most of the important tasks on the winter job list. I stopped working at 9pm when it became too dark to see, happy with a productive first day. Really, aside from any special projects, I could probably have this boat ready to go with about two days of prep.
(Wednesday, July 31) Though kinda miffed yesterday that the boatyard hadn’t yet launched Geja, I elected not to launch her today. It is convenient to be able to walk on and off
the boat, even if it’s up and down a rickety ladder. In the water, I would’ve had to anchor 100 meters away, requiring the dinghy to get in and out. Got a lot done again, up early and working until dark. I spent some extra time cleaning up the old electric panel, one that has become quite the spaghetti mess over the decades.
(Thursday, August 1) Morning routine is now well established. Up early (still jetlagged), stuff my backpack full of boat parts from my second piece of luggage, hit the bakery
for a burek, and get to the boat. By mid-morning, my first crewmate Henrik arrived. Though we don’t plan to set sail until Saturday, he was happy to arrive early, even if it meant taking on some boatyard tasks, such as tuning up Geja’s two folding bikes. Around noon, Geja was moved to the crane to finally be splashed into the water. Some stressful moments followed, as the mechanics couldn’t get the old Yanmar diesel to fire up. They tried and tried, letting the starter cool down in between attempts. Finally, and inexplicably, the motor started and stayed running.
While they fiddled with the motor, I tried out the rest of the systems. I always fear that something won’t work after the long winter rest, such as the fridge, toilet or autopilot.
But everything survived the winter just fine. With my usual water spot in the service area taken, I had to motor Geja out to the anchorage, where I continued with boat projects until dark.
I found Henrik back at the hostel, as well as my Norwegian cousin Solveig and her boyfriend Jasko. They were heading to the island of Brac for some vacation, but I convinced them to spend their first night in Trogir. Together with a couple of Norwegian girls from the hostel, we all went out for a few drinks, even visiting the nightclub Padre which had
a bit of action going on.
(Friday, August 2) Not as early as usual, Henrik and I dinghy’d out to Geja and kept going on boat projects. With Geja finally in the water, we got the main sail, dodger, and bimini mounted. Replaced the big window over the galley, one of two that I snuck onto three flights as oversized carry-on. By the afternoon, Henrik suggested that since we were anchored out anyway, why not relocate Geja to the beach about 20 minutes around the bend? At least we’d have some music and better scenery,
as well as clean water to jump into. I usually keep the leisure time to a minimum during the setup days, but it sounded like a fun idea, though it would likely make it impossible to sail off tomorrow.
Once anchored off of the beach, we didn’t get much done. We swam ashore through an entertaining obstacle course of inflatable swimming platforms. On shore we ran into the Danish sisters that Henrik met on the flight down. Having swum in without any cash, they lent us money for ice cream. We had Geja anchored back in
Trogir by sunset.
Tonight turned out to be a party night. Though I promised Henrik that the Croatians would be uptight, we actually made some friends. Padre was going off, and neither of us made it to bed early.
(Saturday, August 3) With plenty of prep work to be done, it was clear that we wouldn’t be leaving Trogir today. Geja was a filthy mess, in need of a good hose-down.
I decided to splurge to the tune of about 70 euros on an overnight spot in the marina. We spent about two hours replacing a small window in the main cabin, lacking a grinder that would’ve made it a 30-minute job. Checked out of the hostel for our first night sleeping aboard.
Every Saturday in the high season, Trogir hosts The Yacht Week, a one-week flotilla of over 60 charter boats with some 600 sailors - mostly single and under 30 - from all over the world. This we had to check out!
The organizers keep the gender balance to 50/50 to keep everybody happy. The entire fleet rafts up to Trogir's main promenade, or riva, for the first party night of the trip. The participants were totally amped, so Henrik and I fit right in. I don’t think we crashed until after 5am.
(Sunday, August 4) However tempting it was to follow The Yacht Week to its next destination, it was finally time to leave Trogir and head north. It was pretty hectic knocking out the final to-do’s, such as washing the boat, filling the water tanks, and grocery shopping. We were finally underway by 3pm.