More Foreigners than Croatians to Take Part in Croatian Sailing Championship

The Laser and Laser Radial classes will compete in the sea off Split. Despite a small number of registered sailors, it will be interesting to see a new duel between two Olympic medal winners – Tonči Stipanović and Pavlos Kontides.

The Croatian Open Sailing Championship for seniors and juniors in Olympic classes will start tomorrow in Split, organised by the Mornar Sailing Club. Less than two years after the Olympic Games in Brazil, where Croatian sailors won the historic first two medals in sailing for Croatia – a gold for Šime Fantela and Igor Marenić in the 470 class and a silver for Tonči Stipanović in the Laser class – it seems that Croatia’s sailing in the Olympic classes is hopelessly going downhill, given that the national championship will this year take place in just two of the ten Olympic classes, with only 30 to 40 sailors competing off Split (applications are open until tomorrow). That is a sad state of affairs, particularly given that a few years ago the national championships featured five or six different classes, with more than a hundred sailors regularly competing in regattas.

From tomorrow till Sunday, the sailors will compete in the Laser and Laser Radial classes. Interestingly, in the Laser class, there will be more foreign than Croatian sailors. In addition to eight Croatian competitors, the regatta will feature three sailors from Japan, two from Hungary and Montenegro, and one from Russia, Serbia, India and Cyprus.

“That is our reality today. For the Croatian championship to be held, minimum conditions must be met, which means there must be at least three sailors or crews from three different Croatian clubs on the starting list of each class. Since Cadiz is currently hosting the European championship for the Finn class, with Croatian sailors competing there, while sailors in the RS:X Olympic board class are training abroad, the national championship has just two classes – Laser and Laser Radial. In the 49er class, we only have one crew, and the situation is similar in the 470 class,” said Ivo Jaić, secretary of the Croatian Sailing Federation.

Regardless of the small number of competitors and classes, Split will be able to see top-quality sailing, because the Laser class will include two winners of Olympic medals. Tonči Stipanović from the local Mornar club won silver at the Olympics in Rio, while Cyprus’s Pavlos Kontides won silver at the Olympics in London. He is also the current world champion in the Laser class.

The majority of foreign sailors who will take part in the Croatian Open Championship are usually stationed in Split during the winter. The Mornar Sailing Club has had numerous excellent sailors in the Laser class for years and, given that Split is one of few European locations where athletes can sail and train during the winter, many have selected Split and Mornar for their winter training camps.

Kontides has been spending a lot of time in Split for years. This year, the town has also hosted Russian sailor Sergey Komissarov, Jonatan and Benjamin Vadnai from Hungary and Kazumasa Segawa from Japan. Two other Japanese sailors will join him in the upcoming regatta since Japan will host the next Olympics, and the Japanese sailors in the Laser class have recognised Split as the best place to train.

“Segawa considers this to be his second home. He has spent a lot of time in Split, and he trains with our sailors every day. He has all the necessary infrastructure here and, importantly, strong opponents to train with. Segawa, as well as other foreign sailors who train there, will be in Split until the regatta at Palma de Mallorca in late March,” said Luka Bonačić, secretary of the Mornar Sailing Club.

The Grand Prix Mornar regatta was held over the weekend as a kind of introduction to the Croatian Championship, with Laser, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 classes in contention. During the two days of southern wind, a total of five races were held. In the Laser class, 15 sailors took part in the competition, with Pavlos Kontides (CYP) winning the regatta. In the Laser Radial class, Bruno Gašpić (the Split Sailing Club) won among 23 registered sailors, while Ursula Balas from the Val Sailing Club from Šibenik was the best among 26 competitors in the transitional Laser 4.7 class for junior sailors.