September may mark the end of the main summer holiday season in Croatia, but for nautical tourists, sailors in particular, the Adriatic season has just started. Autumn brings a busy programme of regattas, and a fascinating link between Croatia today and its centuries-old maritime traditions.

Earlier this month, Komiža hosted the Festival of the Sea – Rota Palagruzona, celebrating the historic sailing route between Komiža and the remote island of Palagruža.

For generations, the fishermen of Komiža sailed these waters in the distinctive Gajeta Falkuša, a traditional wooden fishing boat developed for long journeys in the open sea. The boats combined sometimes challenging sailing and fishing requirements with the use of an innovative design that allowed their sides to be raised when needed for the voyage and lowered when hauling in the catch.

The old voyage to Palagruža is remembered today through Rota Palagruzona. This year’s festival, held from 9–13 September, included traditional boats, sailing and rowing, workshops in traditional boatbuilding and a regatta along the 42-nautical-mile route from Komiža to Palagruža.

This prompts a great memory of our Croatian Language and Culture Course to Vis and Lastovo in 2022, when we re-enacted just a small part of this amazing history by sailing on a falkuša to the Blue Cave on Biševo island. You can read more about that in the first link below.

And the modern sailing and nautical season continues….

From 16–18 October, the 82nd Vis Regatta [Viška regata] brings racing yachts back to Vis, while the Palagruža Cup follows from 17–24 October.

Then, from 21–25 October, the focus moves north to Biograd na Moru for the Biograd Boat Show, which brings together boatbuilders, equipment suppliers and other businesses from Croatia’s nautical sector

From the wooden falkuša of Komiža to today’s sailing yachts and boatbuilders, Croatia’s multi layered relationship with the sea is still very much in evidence.

What Does Gajeta Falkuša mean?

Gajeta is a traditional wooden sailing and fishing boat found along the eastern Adriatic. The gajeta falkuša is the distinctive version developed by the fishermen of Komiža on the island of Vis.

The town of Komiža, in its Smart Town Development Strategy, describes the falkuša as effectively “two boats in one” and explains that this part of its name derives from its distinctive removable side sections.

Falkuša is derived from the folki — removable wooden side sections that could be fitted to raise the sides of the boat. With the folki in place, the boat had greater carrying capacity and was better suited to longer voyages across the open Adriatic; with them removed, the sides were lower and it was more suitable for rowing and fishing.

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Some Nautical Croatian Vocabulary

regata – regata
jedrenje – sailing
jedrilica, jahta – sailing boat / yacht
jedro – sail
posada – crew
luka – port / harbour
vez – berth / mooring
brod – boat / ship
brodogradnja – boatbuilding / shipbuilding
tradicionalni brod – traditional boat
pomorska baština – maritime heritage

Useful Links:

Traditional Sailing Boats And Blue Caves – Croatian Language School

Biograd Boat Show – [Allegedly] Central Europe’s Largest Boat Show

Todays photo, ©Jane Cody, is of a regatta in Šibenik, the destination for our 2027 Croatian Language and Culture Course