yachtcharter

Safety at sea
Major responsibility for the safety of the craft and of the crew lays in the skipper and the crew themselves. Anyway there is always the National Centre for Protection and Rescue at sea to help you, intervening in the case if difficulty and average and co-ordinating the action of research and rescue. Besides the National Centre, eight harbour master's offices and maritime, coast radio stations and research and rescue units, operate uninterruptedly. A permanent monitoring service operates 24 hours on 24 on channels 10 and 16. The National Centre for Protection and Rescue the emergency number 9155 (from abroad +385 51 9155) is active and that number can be also activated by GMDSS system. An emergency service, namely number 112 (as in the European Union) is operating in Croatia, and you can ask for help to that number. For a rescue at sea the most important thing is to give help in time and to co-ordinate all those taking part to the salvage action. In the case of accidents on your own or somebody else's craft it is necessary to alarm immediately any of those actors in the safety system.


Sailing licence
If you rent a craft in Croatia without the skipper, you have to produce a sailing licence, valid for sailing within 6 miles or a licence issued by the Republic of Croatia. That document enables you to navigate inside Croatian territorial waters. In practice that means that you must dispose of the licence to sail within 6 miles and to possess the VHF licence. VHF licence can be held also by a crew member in the case one persons does not possess both licences. The company renting the craft shall check the validity of the documents, and exceptionally that will be done by the harbour master's office or the police. In the case you have not the sailing licence, it is possible to take the examination in Croatia ad obtain the licence to operate crafts up to 20 tons and to use the VHF station correctly.


Weather conditions
Weather forecast is broadcasted three time a day by Rijeka radio (frequencies 0535, 1435, 1934 and channel 24), Split radio (frequencies 04545, 1245, 1945 and channels 7, 21 and 28) and Dubrovnik radio (frequencies 625, 1320, 2120 and channels 4 and 6), in Croatian and in English. Moreover, weather forecasts are broadcasted by harbour master's offices in four languages (Croatian, English, Italian and German) every fifteen minutes. Weather forecasts are broadcasted also by radio and TV stations and are published on the web site of National Hydromethereologic Institute: http://meteo.hr.


The winds
It is important to know the main winds on the Croatian coast, each of them having specific characteristics.
Maestral blows from north-west and starts usually at about 11 in the morning, in conditions of high pressure. A messenger of fine weather, it can reach the force of 5 Beaufort accompanied by a rather turbulent sea. The maestral dies away in the evening and, after a night of quite, it starts blowing again in the morning.
Burin blows in the night, in inverse direction in respect to maestral, namely from north or north-west in northern Adriatic and from east south-east in south Adriatic. Its force is at maximum before sunrise and then dies gradually away.
The bora is a fierce wind coming with high pressure and blows from the land to the sea, in strong gusts. It is difficult to forecast its approach, although there are some indicators like: formation of small clouds, whilst the sea in the north-east starts frothing. Bora gusts get feebler when the distance from the coast is longer. In Summer bora blows only for a few hours, but it can last one or two days. Bora is particularly strong in Kvarner, in Velebit Channel and in the surrounding of Šibenik, Split, Pelješac and Dubrovnik.
The scirocco is a warm, humid wind, bringing storms in the period from October to January. A calm sea and thickly clouded sky usually announce its approach. Scirocco brings rough sea and lasts for a few days. In Summer it lasts about three days and in Winter it can last even for three weeks. Sometimes, scirocco also brings the reddish sand from the desert. Scirocco can easily change direction and transform into bora. Scirocco is characteristic for south Adriatic, where it blows stronger than in north Adriatic.
The neverin is a local storm, coming from west, bringing bad weather. It blows mostly in Summer, lasts shortly, but is very intense, with thunder and lightning originates high waves. As soon as the neverin has passed the air is fresh and pleasant. More frequent in north Adriatic. Other winds blowing in the Adriatic are: lebic, from south-west, levanter - strong wind from east and tramontana - cold, north wind. Stable weather conditions of high pressure generate winds that in the night blow from land to sea and viceversa during the day.

Maritime and navigation regulations
Boats and crafts have to keep safety distance from the coast, under the following rule:
- passenger ships at a distance not inferior to 300 m
- pleasure boats at a distance not inferior to 200 m
- motor and sailing boats at a distance not inferior to 50 m
Ships, motor and sailing boats can sail at shorter distance from the coast in the case that is required by geographic configuration, but in that case they must reduce speed in order to be able to stop or turn immediately. Rowing boats can approach the coast at a distance shorter than 50 meters. On water surfaces facing bathing establishments, all crafts must keep at a distance of 50 m from the floating net and 150 m from natural beaches.
Motor boats, water skiis and other quick crafts can navigate at full regimen only in zones particularly organised and, in any case at a distance not inferior to 300 meters from the coast. The Owner or the operator of the radio on board, is not allowed to transmit false or wrong danger, safety, assistance or identification signals.

Mooring costs
In the majority of ports, marinas, coves with mooring buoys, the approach is paid on the basis of the length of the craft. Amounts vary from place to place, as they are decided by local administrations. As a rule, the price increases on the basis of the quality of services supplied by the port, namely from 15 to 35 HRK. Mooring costs include water, electricity, waste transport and, not frequently, use of the shower and WC.
With its 48 tourist marinas, ports, natural shelters and other mooring places, Croatia is one of the best equipped regions in the world for nautical activities and, really, makes possible to you to programme your days with the highest flexibility since, in any case, at twilight, you always find a safe place to spend the night, no matter the weather conditions.

Underwater activities
Per tutte le forme di pesca sportiva è necessario munirsi della licenza che si può acquistare presso le capitanerie di porto. La validità della licenza può essere di uno, tre, sette, tranta giorni e di un anno. Esistono due tipi di permesso: quello per la pesca con l'amo e quello per la pesca subacquea con fucile. Per l'attrezzatura sono consentite due canne da pesca due lenze e due fucili. La pesca sportiva è permessa ovunque nell'Adriatico eccetto che nei Parchi nazionali marittimi.

Underwater activities
In Croatia diving is permitted with you own equipment, if you possess a permit issued by the Croatian Diving Federation, valid for one year and issued to duly qualified divers. Licences cost 100 HRK. Moreover, you can obtain the permit for individual dives with no control, issued by harbour master's offices and costs 2,400 HRK per year. Persons practicing underwater activities must have a signalling buoy, red and orange, whose diameter should not be less than 30 cm. Diving is forbidden in some areas like harbours, approaches to harbours, moorings outside harbours and zones where maritime traffic is intense. Moreover, diving is forbidden in maritime reserves at distances inferior to 100 metres from military premises on the coast. Zones where diving is allowed, upon getting a permit by the Parks administration, are the islands of Kornati and the island of Mljet. Around Brijuni islands organised diving is allowed. The maximum allowed diving depth is 40 metres.