Europe

A Long-Awaited Croatian Flotilla

by Wendy McGregor, Posted February 13, 2013

Energy and excitement crackled in the rigging around us as we prepared to set sail on the shimmering Adriatic Sea. We, a group of 31 adventurous Canadian sailors, were setting out in a charter flotilla to explore the beautiful islands of Croatia.

Cruising Croatia

by Fred Bagley, Posted March 10, 2011

I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy, but here I am sampling octopus salad. When I grab it's usually a Bud, but today I'm enjoying a Karlovacko. I usually anchor in monosyllabic places like Gore Bay, but tonight the hook is dropping in Starogradski Zaljev. My chartplotter has always read longitude west of Greenwich, but this screen says 16 degrees east. Where am I?Croatia,

River Cruising

by Amy Ullrich, Posted March 7, 2011

A pamphlet I picked up in a tourism office in Cahors, the big city” of the Lot Valley, refers to the area as la France profonde (“deep France”). The phrase is in fact the title of a book by a French academic, Michel Dion, and refers to the culture and traditions of village life in rural France—the “real” France as it was. The pamphlet doesn’t elaborate further, but this

Paradise Found

by Cheetah Haysom, Posted January 25, 2011

In an age of instant knowledge, it’s rare to hear of places that are still “undiscovered.” This past summer, however, I had the opportunity to explore a cruising ground that, at least to the Western world, is still undiscovered: Montenegro’s Gulf of Kotor.For years, Montenegro was considered out of bounds for Western sailors. With a population of 650,000—roughly the size of Baltimore—the

Turkish Delights

by Tom Dove, Posted April 15, 2010

We had already concluded, after only a few days in Istanbul, that we’d never figure out the Turkish language. Then we saw our Sunsail charter boat. The stern carried a French flag and the boat’s name: UAGIZ. My wife, Kathy, and I have dealt with a lot of foreign languages, but this one truly had us scratching our heads. And asking a dockhand didn’t help much. I heard “Oo-gosh,” and

Sailing Dalmatia

by Sail Staff, Posted April 17, 2009

In the book by Chris Santella, Fifty Places To Sail Before You Die, he and Jon Wilson describe Croatia as a “hidden gem.” Their description was so appealing that we decided to go and see for ourselves. We were joined by our regular racing crew, Dave Usechak and Steve Gaudette.The four of us arrived at Marina Kremik, just north of Split, Croatia in late April.

Sailing Turkey's Turquoise Coast

by Amy Ullrich, Posted March 12, 2009

Blue Voyages along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts of Turkey were the brainchild of either Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli, a writer, or Bedri Rahmi Eybo˘glu, a painter and poet; Bedri Rahmi has a bay named for him, so perhaps he’s the one. Both found themselves in the area for one reason or another and encouraged their friends to visit. The friends publicized the beauties of the coast and the lives

Mediterranean charter tips

by Sail Staff, Posted February 11, 2009

We North American sailors tend to take our “away” sailing vacations in the Caribbean, where the charter companies are well known through advertising and magazine articles. And it’s certainly not hard to find a fellow sailor who’s been there, done it, and can’t tell you enough about it. That’s the good news. We’ve also come to expect, and get, a high level of service and a certain amount of

It's All Greece To Me

by Amy Ullrich, Posted August 13, 2008

A charter in the Ionian sea yields a sampling of the "real" GreeceWe sailors are lucky. Thanks to the availability of boats that can be chartered in many of the world's wonderful places—and to my mind, many of these wonderful places are islands—we can travel around at will, complete with housing, a kitchen, and a clothes closet. Within certain parameters, of

Split Decision

by Sail Staff, Posted August 8, 2008

A thousand islands, a balmy climate, friendly people: Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast knocks the socks of most other cruising groundsWith my wife, Roz, and my old Scottish mate, Patrick, I’d bought tickets on a low-price airline from London to Split. Two and a half hours later we were losing altitude over a fairytale fortress on a tiny island. We’ll sail there for sure, I