November 18, 2021 - Split will host the first Melges 24 class Croatian Sailing Championship this weekend, with 16 star-studded Olympian sailing crews. 

From Friday to Sunday, the first Croatian Championship in the Melges 24 class will be held in Split, with 16 crews. JK Mornar organizes the regatta and is excited to announce that the best Croatian sailors of all generations will compete in front of Split. Thus, for the first time, spectators will have the opportunity to see the showdown of Croatian Olympic medalists Tonči Stipanović and Šime Fantela, and several other great sailors, including Melges 24 class Olympians Tomislav Bašić, Karlo Kuret, Ivan Kljaković Gašpić, Luka Radelić, and Toni Bulaja, reports Dalmacija Danas.

The regatta lasts for three days, and the first races are scheduled for Friday. If the weather conditions allow, the regatta course will be placed just below Sustipan so that the competition can be followed until the end. The regatta is led by Olympian Marko Mišura and the primary judge will be the experienced Alen Kustić.

The flourishing Melges 24 class in Croatia is one of the most beautiful stories of Croatian sailing. Namely, Croatia's best sailors have always looked for a way to compete on an equal footing, but in the past 30 years in Croatia, a class of identical ships has never been successfully formed that would make this possible. However, things started to change a year ago when at the initiative of sailor Filip Jurišić, and several of Croatia's top sailors decided to buy the world's most popular one-design Melges 24 sailboat. As a result, at the end of last year, the Croatian Melges fleet counted seven ships. As things kicked off, many of Croatia's prominent sailors, from Dubrovnik to Istria, decided to use these faster and smaller sailboats, so the Croatian fleet today has 15 ships, with a tendency to grow further. 

One of the unique features of the Melges 24 class is that it brings together celebrated sailors and successful business people for whom sailing is a passion. Luka Šangulin, Miroslav Reljanović, and Matija Longin, among others, regularly take part in the Croatian Melges 24 regattas. All of them will also be sailing at the first Melges 24 Croatian Championship this weekend in Split.

There are 16 crews on the starting list, 15 of which are under the Croatian flag. The international touch to the regatta is brought by the Italian crew, led by Michele Paoletti, a sailor from Trieste who competed at the 2000 Olympic Games in the Soling class. Miroslav Reljanović's crew will include another international star - Norwegian Peer Moberg, who also sailed at the Sydney Olympics in the Laser class.

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November 10, 2021 - Croatian sailor Tonči Stipanović won the bronze medal at the ILCA 7 World Championships (formerly Laser), which ended in Barcelona on Wednesday with a lot of difficulties.

Wednesday was meant to be the deciding day with three final races, but three of the total six competition days were unable to go ahead due to unfavorable weather conditions in Barcelona! After towering waves in the morning prevented the fleet from entering the regatta, the rain then began which forced the regatta committee to declare that no one would sail today.

In such conditions, 35-year-old Tonči Stipanović kept the bronze medal, which is the third world medal for the 2x Olympic silver medalist and member of the Split sailing club Mornar. In 2010 he won the silver, and last year he took bronze in Australia.

This is his tenth big medal in Laser in total, and the world bronze came in the same year as the Olympic silver from Tokyo, so Tonči can be proud of his achievements in 2021.

Stipanović's club colleague and current European runner-up Filip Jurišić took 21st place with 126 negative points, and the third Croatian representative Bruno Gaspić finished 48th with 194 negative points.

New Zealander Thomas Saunders is the new world champion, and the silver went to Irishman Finn Lynch.

Source: HRT

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September 12, 2020 - The Croatian police reported on a drug-raid today in which almost a ton of cocaine was confiscated in Spain. 

The raid, under the code-name "Falkuša" (named after a historic Croatian sailboat), was directed against the members of the so-called Balkans Cartel, specialised in drug-smuggling on various yachts and sailboats. At least three Croatian citizens are known to be part of the organisation. They were recruited by the cartel to smuggle the drugs across the ocean on a large sailboat, registered under the Croatian flag, numerous Croatian media outlets (including Večernji list) have reported.

The sailboat sailed out of the Šibenik port in early 2020, only to be sailing along the African smuggling route in late August of this year, south of the Canary Islands, and towards the shores of West Africa. That's where the locally organised crime groups loaded the cocaine on the sailboat. The special team of the Spanish "Guardia Civil" intercepted the Croatian sailboat with three crew members, all three of them being Croatian citizens. This was carried out on the morning of September the 8th, 2020, in international waters after obtaining the approval by the Croatian authorities.

The boat was taken to Spain's national waters in the Canary Islands, and 980 packages of one kilo of high-purity cocaine each were found on it. 

The street value of the cocaine was estimated to be over 40 million euros. It was destined for European markets, specifically the Spanish and the Croatian markets. Simultaneously, the Croatian law enforcement agencies performed some activities in Šibenik-Knin County, where they apprehended several computers, phones, and other materials that can be linked to the international drug raid. 

We can't wait to see the new season of Netflix's series Narcos, titled "The Balkans" with ER's Goran Višnjić in the leading role! 

Zadar's duo finished ahead of Greek and Australian crew in the medal race and won the Olympic gold

TCN brings you the itinerary of Croatian athletes' participation at the Olympics (all times are in Central European Time Zone)

TCN brings you the itinerary of Croatian athletes' participation at the Olympics (all times are in Central European Time Zone)

Tonči Stipanović got a penalty before the start of the medal race, and lost the first place he held for the whole competition

TCN brings you the itinerary of Croatian athletes' participation at the Olympics (all times are in Central European Time Zone)

TCN brings you the itinerary of Croatian athletes' participation at the Olympics (all times are in Central European Time Zone)

Tonči Stipanović has the lead which guarantees the silver before the medal race but is also the favorite for the gold