KOMPAS BRODICE d.o.o. Polje Čepić BB Kršan CROATIA Tel: +385(0)

Transcription

1 Dubrovnik to Pula Power Boat Challenge 19 August 2011 KOMPAS BRODICE d.o.o. Polje Čepić BB Kršan CROATIA Tel: +385(0) PRESS RELEASE This first time power boat race Challenge started from in front of the Radisson and Sun Gardens Residence in Orasac, Dubrovnik at 7:00 am in the morning. Weather was sunny and hot with temperature already at 29C in the early morning. Sea conditions were calm around Dubrovnik. Sea was dead sea waves with a little Jugo winds for the start for driver Branko Cvetković and Navigator Gverino Mrzelić on the Compass 535 boat built and designed by Kompas Brodice d.o.o. There was really a lot of waves from the bigger boats and jugo winds from all sides between Dubrovnik and Hvar but we were able to maintain an easy 25 35knots even with waves up to 1 meter. We lost over 1 hour in Hvar to refuel as the Ina station there was not willing to cooperate and clear the way for us to pull in and refuel and the public filling were all fighting with each other and untying mooring lines to push boats out the way to make room so they could refuel at the one and only working pump. Tempers were high and the hot sun temperature even higher. Hvar Ina has no facilities to accept credit cards so you must go to head office to organize a credit card payment and average boats filling up there are min 25 L to 800 l and all must pay cash only. Branko says it reminded him of the old Yugoslavian days when the petrol stations would run out of fuel and everyone was lining up with petrol cans to try and get their fuel. It was a mess to say the least. After leaving Hvar in the distance was more open sea where we could go more full speed as we had better waves we could ride on so we could have speed s of knots. These are the easier summaries of what happens but for those who have ever tried pumping their boats to full speed you can understand that if you airborne too long and you cut the waves wrong on landing you have to throttle down and rebuild up your speed again to gain momentum, and all this in a matter of a few seconds. We abided by all sea laws and speed regulations between the islands for this race. Marina Preko our next refueling was much smoother and with the help and assistance of Alan Smojver, the manager from Marina Preko and staff at Ina they cleared a mooring and were very professional and all refueling was done in 5 minutes with no problems. Thanks Marina Preko and Preko Ina for your support and speedy service!! We will be sure to see you next year.

2 As for Hvar refueling, never again! We will rather arrange someone with our own fuel to meet us somewhere to refuel so we do not loose so much time again. From Marina Preko to Pula we were in more protected flat calm waters so we had to be concerned about not running engine on same RPMs to not stress the engine all the time so we decided to run engine at between 70% 100% of its power about knots. The waves started again between Ist and Ilovik the sea started to be rougher. As we started to approach Pula the sea conditions were messy as the waves were coming from all directions and the sea was rough. When we came to Pula light house in open sea the conditions were so rough and Branko decided not to drop his speed so in 45 knots they got airborne 2 m high in the air and almost flipped the boat. However with his long racing experience he was able to land the boat without loosing speed. Navigator, Gverino told Branko afterwards : ` I was not afraid I was a hundred percent sure you would fix it.`` When we approached the finish line it was an excilorating sensation and feeling to see Pula Amphitheatre in the background with the ACI Marina with all our sponsors media and friends and family waiting as we approached the finish line. We crossed the finish line at 17:05 pm. The Major of Pula, G. Miletic was there to greet us in on our arrival and record our finishing time. For the overall race the min speed was 25 knots and maximum speed was 52 knots with an average speed of about 33 knots for the entire trip which lasted 10 hours 5 minutes of which 1hour and 35 minutes was lost in time for refueling and finding the fueling stations. You do not need big boat to have fun and see all of Croatia you need only a good one. We did it with our new 2011 design 5,35 m Compass boat in 10 hours across 240 nautical miles of Croatian coastline with no breakages, damages or engine failure and with one wash down the boat looks still brand new out of the box on arrival to Pula. Our only regret is that we were not able to get an onboard camera like the GoPro Hero camera to record all the beautiful scenery of the Croatian coastline were you could see all the islands and how everything looked in one the same day. We would like to give a special thanks to all our sponsors, media and shore crew who supported us on this first race from Dubrovnik to Pula without your contribution and sponsorship this race would not have been possible. We only used 231L of petrol for the 240 nautical miles travelled with our 150 HP Honda engine which was most impressive in its low fuel consumption. Our Musto foul weather technical clothing was also super we thought with the hot tempratures that day being over 35C we would cook in our full body suites but they were fantastic and we were not wet with water or sweat inside after the trip. Thanks to our sponsors: Kompas Brodice Compass 535 power race boat, trailer, safety gear, shore crew, hotel, travel, all fuel costs and event organizers. Honda Croatia Fred Bobek d.o.o. - Honda outboard motor 150HP Želizar Stainless - all stainless Propulse propellers- propeller Unimar - all marine equipment Musto- foul weather gear and boots. Adriana Nautica Financial sponsorship Inter Commerce- Financial sponsorship

3 Staklo Plast window Radisson Blu Hotel & Dubrovnik Sun Garden Residence in Orasac, Dubrovnik- Press meeting room, apartment for 1 night & marina mooring 2 days ACI Club Marinas ( Dubrovnik, Pula)- lifting boats in water in Dubrovnik and organizing finish line in Pula, press meeting room and mooring for 4 days. Municipality of Kršan ( Financial) Municipality of Pula and Dubrovnik Shore Crew: Natasja Meier, Sven Cvetković, Vedran Vale, Antonio Mrzlić, Sergio Miletić

4 PICTURES from the race Hrvatska I Može Honda 150 engine

5 Dubrovnik Press conference at the Radisson, Orasac and boat testing boat before race

6

7

8

9 Start at 7 am in the morning in front of the Radisson and Sun Gardens Residences in Orasac Dubrovnik

10 Finish in Pula in front of the ACI Marina

11