Murter to Hvar Flotilla Sailing area

On selected dates we run flotillas that sail outside of our normal area. This is done to offer more choice of sailing destinations, and is particularly popular with repeat clients that want to be able to sail in new areas. These flotillas are run along the same lines as our normal trips, but are generally run as specific two week trips and will involve a few obligatory longer sailing days (25 to 35 miles) during the flotilla. We try however to space these out as much as possible and still allow plenty of shorter days (up to 20 miles) when people can choose to sail as much or as little as they want. These then allow plenty of time for sightseeing, relaxing or just generally pottering about among the islands. Our normal flotillas will still run during these dates so anybody wishing to participate in one of these trips must specify this at the time of booking

The Murter to Hvar sailing area is an extension of our normal southerly route, and gives people the chance to visit mainland ports like Trogir and Split as well as sail around the large well known islands like Brac and Hvar. This particular area is probably the busiest sailing area in Croatia because of its proximity to Split airport, and the fact that it includes some of the islands that many people coming to Croatia for the first time will have heard of and want to visit.

The sample route above is for guidance purposes only but is a good indication of what we do in this area. When sailing this route, there are two main things that we have to consider and these are

• Ports like Split and Trogir are usually impossible to get into at the weekends as these ports and marinas are generally full with yachts based from these locations back for their change over,so we have to aim to visit these during the week.
• The islands of Brac and Hvar are much bigger than the smaller ones nearer to Murter so sailing around them can involve some longer sailing days, and we can only pick one or two ports on each. In a two week trip we rarely try to go any further south than Hvar.

You join the yacht on a Saturday, having spent the day traveling, joining the yacht sometime in the afternoon/evening. There is normally no sailing on this first day. The following morning starts with a full briefing when you will meet with the rest of the group, sort out any issues and then head off for the first day. We try to usually keep the first nights destination fairly local so allowing everybody plenty of time for shopping, settling in and having a relaxed first day at your own pace.

We then aim to have a longer day and pass through the islands immediately south of Murter that our normal flotilla route visits, and head to one of the mainland ports like Primosten or Rogoznica. From here we then aim to get around and spend the next few days visiting the ports of Split and Trogir and some of the nearby islands, before heading out to the larger islands at the weekend. These islands tend to be a bit quieter at the weekends as a lot of other yachts will be back in their mainland ports for changeover.

By the end of the first week of a two week trip, then we are ready to start heading back north. On the way we try to call in at some of the ports and smaller islands that we missed on the way down and aim to be back up in the area off Sibenik by the middle of the week. This then allows plenty of options for the remaining days such as a visit the Krka falls, perhaps pop out to the Kornati or just have a few relaxing days meandering through the many beautiful bays and islands in this area, before returning to Betina at the weekend.

Overall over the two weeks we should cover somewhere between 200 and 300 miles and will have a mix of town quays, marinas and nights at anchor in bays. Most evenings we go to places with restaurants to eat ashore, although you can of course choose to eat on board at any time you choose. On these trips we try going into at least some ports and bays that we have not visited with a flotilla before, so our lead crews will not always have as much information in advance as we have on the ports in our regular sailing area.

All locations mentioned are for guidance purposes only and we can give no guarantee of visiting any particular port or islands. The final decisions as to where the flotilla goes on any particular day has to be decided by the on site lead skippers, and they have to have full freedom to make these decisions based on weather, local conditions etc. Anybody that is only booking so that they can visit any particular port should therefore consider taking a yacht from the Bareboat/flotilla fleet as with these you are totally free to go off on your own as a bareboat at any stage.

The number of yachts on these trips is limited in any one group, most of which are generally from our in house fleet, with only places for a maximum of two or three from our Bareboat flotilla fleet. Full details of these can be viewed here