ORC World Regatta

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The Offshore Racing Council was the governing organization for the world offshore regatta in Cres, Croatia. There is not an ORC governing body in the USA so the ORC regattas had never had a USA built boat with a USA flag in their regattas. In Spring of 2010 the Grateful Red was measured by an ORC measurer at Port Napoleon – qualifying the Grateful Red for the ORC worlds in Cres. We had a worldwide crew of Wendell, Ken and Charlie from the USA and team Holland of Leneke, Jeroen and Clarissa from the Netherlands, Trouble…no wind at the regatta. In the 80 mile offshore overnight race the TP52 racing machines with professional crews averaged less than two knots. The Grateful Red had sterring linkage issues and did not participate in the overnight. Team Holland lead by Jeroen and Clarissa, had a part fabricated on site and repaired the linkage. The Grateful Red raced the last day, only regatta day with winds over five knots, and beat a few boats. Success!

Cres – Week One

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In the morning, Thursday, after Raouf went to the Bakery and I hit the market for some lunch meats and cheeses, we cast off around 9am. Cres Village, on Otok Cres is our final destination and this is the last sailing day for the crew. Alistair and Charlie sailed most of the way until we had to head up into the wind.

Alistar helping Isabella “study” for Captain Ken’s sailing quiz.


As we approached our last hour of sailing, we lost our wind and resorted to our motor. Michelle and Isabella took turns at the helm and loved having the opportunity to “steer” the boat.

Coming into Cres was a beautiful sight to see. It is a wonderful large bay with the old village in the left curve of the shoreline. Along the right side of the bay is our ACI marina where we will keep the boat until the 27th until meeting up with our next cruising crew. After checking in at the marina and finding the bathrooms, showers, and cold beer, we took up the job of boat recovery.

We left the job of packing the girls items to the Dad’s as it looked like a insurmountable task! But in no time things were packed and ready to go. They have plans to go to the only Resort in town, Hotel Kimen. No swimming pool, but very close to the shoreline were swimming is easy.

Charlie and Alistar scrubbed the deck and sides of the boat and after a short bit the boat was gleaming! Ken and I made arrangements with the car rental company to have our car delivered from Rijeka the next morning so I could take him to the airport for his flight back to the US. Charlie got his “to-do” list of projects to be done on the boat in Ken’s absence.