After a one-year break, caused by the situation around Covid-19, the traditional meeting of yachtsmen – Rotarians of our district – took place again at the turn of May and June 2021. The meeting, which was originally planned for the beginning of June 2020, was attended by 8 boats from Moravian and Slovak clubs (no Czech club has joined us yet). Many of us had ships booked and paid for last year and we managed to postpone reservations for this year.
As we moved this year’s meeting further north than in the past, all ships sailed from Pula – 6 ships (including 2 catamarans) from the Veruda marina and 2 ships from the ACI Pula marina. The crews were different – single club and mixed from several clubs, purely men’s and composed of couples, purely Rotarian, and mixed with non-Rotarians. Members of 3 different clubs, including a former exchange student, even met in one of the crews.
As the weather forecast promised “boron” in the Kvarner area at the beginning of the week, captains Honzo Chalupa (RC Ostrava), Fero Kocian (RC Žilina), Tibor Kočvara and Reth Košábek (RC Martin), Bohuš Kratochvíl (RC Banská Bystrica), Bob Křempek (RC Opava), Martin Pešat (No. IYFR) and Rado Simon (RC Bratislava International) had a difficult decision ahead of them – where we will float.
Due to the fact that we planned a joint meeting for Tuesday evening in the home marina of most ships in Veruda, some crews finally decided to combine the northern route (direction Rovinj, Poreč, Novigrad) and the southern part in the second half of the week. However, some of the crews tested their sailing skills (and stomachs) in the Kvarner area, which caused some to fail to return to a joint meeting, which was eventually attended by 5 crews – about 30 Rotarians. After a short welcome and securing the most important thing (dinner,), the flag and insignia of the IYFR commodore – Czech and Slovak Rotary Fleet – were handed over a year late. They were taken over by the current commodore Radoslav Simon from the rear commodore Martin Pešat. This was followed by dinner, an exchange of experiences, as well as further acquaintance with members and non-members of the Rotary 2240 clubs.
Since this was already the 10th meeting of the yachtsmen of our district, the only thing we regret is that no crew from the “Czech meadows and groves” has joined us. The next planned meeting will be “terrestrial” (probably sometime in November), where we also plan all activities and dates for 2022. More information about the activities of the yachting fellowship can be found at: http://www.rotarysail.eu.
Rado Simon, RC Bratislava International