Ein Bericht über Viganj von Tibor (AUS-1), der alte Mann aus Ungarn, der überall dabei ist. Er schreibt ganz nett, aber in englisch.

Viganj = Paradise.

Viganj is in Croatia, down south opposite Korcula. It is my favorite place for regattas or just holidaying there.

It looks like a passage between two islands but in fact one of them is a long peninsula curving around from the mainland. You guessed, it the wind travels and accelerates in the channel between the land masses. The channel is about 2km wide and lends itself perfectly to windsurfers and (bloody) kiters. There are mountains rising up on both sides but not quite as steeply as at Garda. The weather is Byron bayish.

It is not an upmarket tourist destination, perhaps that is its main charm. While you will find enough restaurants and shops, some of them you may have to walk or bicycle a bit further for. I adored bicycling in the early morning up to the local shop for fresh bread etc and sometimes stop along the road winding 2meters from the water at the cafe for a cappuccino. As you know there is no morning really good enough for me without one

We have arrived a week earlier for the previous reasons and weren't disappointed. The wind comes in similarly to Garda in the afternoons. I have had some fun shortboarding and formulaing before the races started.

Finally the day has arrived to start some serious racing. Around 50 guys registered. They were slovaks, croats, hungarians, austrians, checz and an old australian, I don't know how he got there, must have taken the wrong turn at Venice. Surprise, surprise, the usual good strong trade winds didn't eventuate this time. We had to sail in light conditions and planing sooner and longer was an important part of sailing. However, it was still interesting as tactics were very important and of course the good guys were still the lucky ones with the wind shifts. That's still a puzzle for me!!!!

The new severne and pryde sails went well. The top guys are as good as Sam and Michael. They placed about 28-30 at the Europeans. That's good, believe it or not! Here they used mainly starboards so I felt at home with my new 158. They had one windy day (up to 18 knots), then decided to start the slalom races but by the time we got going the wind abated enough not to pursue the slalom and at the same time miss out on at least three good formula runs. These things happen however, not again to this administration because after that day they were going to hang them and I believe they were run out of town. Till now it was always like at home in Sydney with a runabout and a couple of flags. Now, they have got a big yacht and that went to their head. Give us back the dingy starting boats with no wind shadow behind them.

The atmosphere was great as usual with lots of pretty young females, every one trying to take more off than the other. Disgusting! I was thinking how upset Bruce would be at their sight!?!? What would Ricardo have said! Would Nathan Clift have ever got over the gravel rash to his tongue. Then, once the Swedish twins have left I picked a bucket full of figs and left on another long journey towards Hungary. You'd understand if you saw my car!

In the meantime they have confirmed a PWA event on Lake Balaton in Hungary which has the local formula group excited to heaven. They are praying like crazy for wind as the place is not known to get it all that regularly. I may be able to report on that later.

Viszontlátásra!

Good bye!

Vielen Dank an dieser Stelle für den Bericht. Unsere beiden Peter waren in Croatien und kamen mit durchaus guten Resultaten nach Hause. Hie rnoch ein Bericht von Peter Hörler:

Eigentlich ist es bis auf die Anreise (18h mit dem Auto von Wien) dort sehr schön, ein ideales Revier zum Formula fahren!
Die Regatta war vom 1. - 7. August, Wind war zum Leid der etwas schwereren Fahrer meistens zwischen 7 und 10 Knoten. Für mich genug für das 11er Severne, welches übrigens mein neues Lieblingssegel geworden ist. Es zieht bei Leichtwind so gut, dass ich kein größeres Segel mehr brauche. Jeden Tag hatten wir schönes Wetter und Wind, 2 Tage bis 20 kn. Davon war der 1. Tag vor der Regatta betroffen und ein Wettfahrtstag. Doch die Regattaleitung wollte unbedingt einen Slalom starten, und so haben wir einen wirklich guten Formulatag mit dem blöden Slalom vergeudet!!!!
Unschlagbar war Stojan Vidacovic der fast alle Wettfahrten gewonnen hat (auch mit dem 11er Severne und Starboard), 2. Ante Berlengi (Starboard / Gaastra) 3. Patrik Hrdina (Severne / Starboard) 5. Fladan Desnica (Starboard / Gaastra) 9. Peter Hörler (Severne / Starboard) 13. Peter Pfaffenpichler (Severne / Starboard)