After my usual swim in the clear waters and breakfast, we motor out of the bay. The morning NE wind was strong enough to allow us to make good progress towards the Splitska Vrata. And then died suddenly, just as we were crossing the path of one of the tour boats. Yo-yo Ma took us out of the way, but the skipper of the tour boat had noticed our situation and was already taking evasive action. In general I found the skippers of these tour boats very correct and respectful. They always gave way to us in good time. However, before this day is over we are going to come across less correct skippers.
One out of the Vrata we started the usual hide and seek game with the wind. A bit of wind comes up, so we switch-off the motor and unfurl the genoa. This has the magic effect of making the wind disappear. Repeat.
During one of the brief periods when we were actually sailing, we were almost rammed by a motoring charter catamaran crewed by idiots. It appeared to be on auto-pilot with all the crew messing with different things, nobody bothering to keep a look-out. When I avoided them and gave them a protesting blast of the fog horn they looked as if they expect that sailing boats have to give way to them. Morons!
Finally we had enough of the weak wind and decided to motor to the first village we sighted to wait for the Maestral to pick-up. On the way we met another idiot skipper. This time was a gin palace with Bermudan flag coming towards us from the port side. I honestly did not mean to get into a war of nerves. My reasoning was: big yacht, probably with hired, professional skipper. He will respect the col regs. Then we were too close for me to start changing course or speed and create a confusing, dangerous situation. Finally they reluctantly changed course with blasts of the horn and lots of gesticulation. Pardon me, but nowhere in the col regs says that if you have a big yacht, little boats coming from your starboard side have to get out of the way.
Before we could reach the coast the Maestral started, and from there we had a an exhilarating beat towards Rogač. Full main, a few rolls on the genoa, Mekicevica's bow cutting the waves and First-Mate skilfully handling the head-sail at each tack. What happiness to have such great boat and great crew!
Rogač town quay is very reasonably priced and the water-front cafe has bathrooms and showers for visitors.
Being Sunday the only shop open was a couple of kilometers up a steep, hot, dusty road, in the town of Grohote. It is a beautiful, small town so it was worth the effort.
We spent the rest of the day on the beach, from where we watched a Volkboot with Swiss flag arrive. These small Norwegian boats sail fast but are not great on comfort. Still a couple with two grown-up daughters seemed to be enjoying the cruising.
To close the day we treated ourselves to a dinner of grilled fish on the terrace of a restaurant, about 100m up from the quay. We were the only patrons, while the expensive restaurant on the waterfront was crowded.
