The longest-running Rotary regatta marks its 20th anniversary this week!
The 20th Rotary regatta kicked off with a ceremonial opening at the restaurant in Marina Kornati in Biograd, reports eZadar on October 2, 2017.
This year’s regatta will see 60 skippers and 11 boats representing Rotary clubs from Slovenia, Austria, Montenegro, Germany and Croatia.
This sailing competition was launched in 1997 by the Rotary Club Zadar, with a wish to enable members of various Croatian Rotary clubs to gather, socialise and compete in sailing. The first few editions only saw a couple of participating boats, but the race soon turned into a first-class international regatta, some of them counting more than 40 contenders. Apart from the countries listed above, previous editions saw competitors from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Italy, Belgium, Serbia, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. On occasion, European sailing enthusiasts were joined by others from the US and Australia, making for an impressive total of 2000 participants since the regatta was first launched.
One of the other goals of the manifestation is to promote the nautical offer of the Croatian Adriatic, and entice interest for Croatia in other European countries.
As every Rotary project has a humanitarian note, the Rotary regatta aims to direct the raised funds towards humanitarian actions and activities in the wider Zadar area. This year, the profit will be invested into helping the young musicians from Zadar who are attending educational programmes abroad. The Rotary Club Zadar will also join other clubs who are helping young people raised in group homes to find new accommodation and follow their own path in life.
This year’s regatta marks 20 years since the commendable manifestation was launched, making it the longest-running multi-day Rotary regatta in the world.
Translated from eZadar.
