by Ray Fusco & Shane Braddock
Shane Braddock is an Australian of Croatian descent and he would be my partner on the first ever unsupported crossing of the Adriatic Sea by kayak. Our friendship stems back several years ago when Shane and I guided sea kayak trips together in the New York harbor. I had vacation time and wanted to paddle with a friend in a beautiful foreign land. I chose Croatia because my friend Shane lived in Split, Croatia. After several emails and telephone calls my simple vacation turned into a real expedition and would take us on a wonderful journey.
Fighting a former communist and bureaucratic governmental agency was not a part of our pre-trip planning. Our attempt to be the first sea kayakers to cross the Adriatic Sea unsupported started and ended locking horns with the Harbor Masters office in the Croatian city of Split. This expedition was meant to unite and celebrate the ancestry of the 2 countries and to retrace the famous Dalmatian fishing route, a 45 miles open water crossing from Komiža on Vis Island to Palagruža Island.
Shane picked me up from the airport on Saturday and his message was simple: They threatened to arrest us if we paddle more than 500 meters from shore. We jumped in his orange 1985 Mercedes Eurovan and headed directly to the Harbor Master’s office. The Harbor Master’s office is a quasi-naval and coast guard organization, which oversees all maritime activities on the Dalmatian coast. They were forcing us to acquire permission for the journey. Entering the smoky office we asked if we could apply for the permission we needed for the crossing but were to we had to wait until Monday for the captain to return. This was not a tragedy because the winds were blowing at 90 knots and forecasted to do so for the next 48 hours. This 90 knot wind was the Bura a famous north easterly wind that whips off the continent through small passages in the Mountains. Its strength is only rivaled by its history of devastation and power.
To ensure that we could get the permit we asked for a detailed list of requirements for a kayak journey across the Adriatic Sea, but we were told that they could not provide us with such a list. We knew then that our fight would not take place on the water but in the depths of this bureaucratic system.
The source of our problems was a local bureaucrat from the Search & Rescue Team, in the northern Croatian town of Rijeka, who read an article about our expedition and started a landslide of problems. His telephone call to the Harbor Master’s office was the catalyst we did not need. On Monday we went back to the Harbor Master’s office with a dossier of our accomplishments and the impressive accomplishments of our predecessors in Sea Kayaking. We included Sea Kayaking examples such as the circumnavigation of Greenland and Iceland as well as an open ocean crossing from San Diego to Hawaii. Their divide and concur tactics were amusing as they sent Shane upstairs and kept me downstairs for individual questioning. A full review of the paperwork was needed so we were asked to return in 4 hours. This was problematic because we had a window of good weather we were trying to capitalize on and any lost time may have made our crossing more difficult.
After the 4 hours passed, they refused to give us permission to make the crossing stating we did not meet the necessary requirements and that we did not have a support boat. A shouting match ensued between Shane and an agent for the office. Angry, frustrated, and ready to paddle, we made a new plan with the hope of “encouraging” the Harbor Master’s office to change its mind. We were already media darlings so we turned up the heat and scorched the Captain of the Harbor Master’s office with a melee of articles, interviews, and TV appearances. Our daily trip to the news stand and stroll across the Riva was empowering. Local town’s people would recognize us and smile, unsure if we were crazy but certainly impressed that we were fighting for what we believed in.
In the mean time we found a support boat and 2 days later we applied for and received permission to leave. Our friend Nigel Turnbal, a crew of 4 and his sailboat Tamara where the reason this whole trip even left shore. The plan was flawed because the Harbor Master refused to let us leave Croatian territorial waters, but we didn’t care. We were going to do it anyway.
We launched from Split harbor on a quiet March morning and besides the cast of media photographers our launch was uneventful. Our first rest stop was at a lighthouse early into our 28 mile day. The lighthouse was located at the infamous Splitska Vrata or Split’s window and this is the gateway to the outer Dalmatian Islands. We paddled into the small cove north of the lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper and his 2 friends smiled and said that they had seen us in the newspaper and heard us on the radio. We shared a mug of red wine and water called bevande and a piece of pound cake while answering questions about our journey. While they were uncertain of our skills, they were excited and interested in our trip, very supportive, and enamored by our conviction.
Our first night’s camp was in a very small cove on a cluster of tiny islets called Pakleni Islands. The next day on our way to Vis we encountered a stiff 15 mph breeze and an annoying 1 meter swell. We paddled into Komiža harbor and, much to our delight, we encountered a small cluster of town’s people pointing and huddling around the harbor promenade excited that we had made it. An older local woman came over and gave us orange soda as if to say “welcome and enjoy.”
The following day we started at 4am. We had a 45 mile open water crossing and the weather report was calling for SE winds shifting to NW winds. We spent over 12 hours paddling through open water with the wind shifting as predicted, but strengthening to 25 knots and producing a 10 foot, breaking sea swell. We later learned that Shane and I were the first to retrace this route with human power craft since 1937. We finally had Palagruža in our sights after 9 hours of grueling work and this was the second wind we needed. We landed, set up camp, and walked the long hill to the lighthouse where the lighthouse keeper welcomed us. “I saw you on TV,” he said, “and knew you were coming.” We shared a meal and prepared for the crossing to Italy.
The straightest line to Italy was a 35 mile crossing that passed through the International shipping lane. We left at 9:30 am and were 15 miles SE of Palagruža and 20 miles from Italy when a frantic Harbor Master’s office radioed us for our position. We were required to provide the Harbor Master’s office with our position every morning and evening a stipulation of our permission to make the crossing, and once we identified our location that morning the fight began again. Threats of arrest, jail and fines came quickly. We offered a compromise stating that we would send the support boat back to Split and that we would risk the final leg of the trip alone. We had no intent of placing the support boat and its crew in harm’s way. We were informed that they had alerted the Italians and that they would cross International waters and into Italian water to pick us up. The Harbor Master threatened to jail all of us, which made our decision easier. The thought of jail in a previously war torn nation and in an unfriendly, barely democratic, former communist country was not very appealing. Also an arrest would jeopardize Shane’s work permission and the 2 businesses he established in Split. We shut the expedition down and sailed back to Split with kayaks on board Tamara.
Once we arrived, we hosted a press conference expressing our happiness to have completed the journey from Komiža to Palagruža, but disappointed that the Harbor Masters office did not see the value of our expedition. We were deeply moved by the whole expedition experience and found much to be thankful for namely the charming locals, friends and family who believed in us and sponsors who were very supportive of the trip. It’s hard to imagine having it turning out any other way. I won’t promise that we will attempt it again because the media attention hurt us the first time, but Shane Braddock and Ray Fusco will absolutely be the first 2 kayakers to cross the Adriatic Sea unsupported.
Interesting, However, the first unsupported crossing of Adriatic to escape from Yugoslavia from Kornati Islands to Italy took place n 1951 by Hruby brothers in the folding kayak tandem. After their succes, another 8 members of Vir, Zagreb (same club)did the same in 1952. They all paddled at night using simple compass and soccer tubes for floatation. I defected at 51 WC in Slalom at Styer, Austria. I was on 3 Canadian Olympic teams; competitor 1960 sprint and coach, sprint and slalom in 72 and sprint in 76
Posted by: Lou Lukanovich | October 19, 2007 at 10:18 AM