Yachting in Split, a city nestled at the foot of Marjan Hill, is the result of a lifestyle, its people’s immeasurable fondness for the sea and ships. Although the first yachting society in Split was founded under the flag of the Rowing Club Adria in 1890, officially the first yachting club in Dalmatia was the now 75year old YC Labud. As far back as 1921, some twenty young enthusiasts gathered first in the shipyard owned by Ivan Košćina and later in the loft of the Kirhmajer brothers’ house where, after their own plans, they started building boats of the type sandolina (canoe) while they dreamed of sailing regattas. On August 24, 1924, the members of the future YC Labud organized a regatta for the first time and sailed 23 boats of the type guc (double ended, open fishing boat) and pasara (halfdecked dinghy) from the Split harbour to the Villa Dalmacija in the Split suburb of Meje. After two successful regattas which attracted the attention of their fellow citizens and the municipal authorities, on November 11, 1924 by the Decree of Ivan Perović, Split district prefect, Labud officially became a yachting club with its own statute and its premises in a wooden hut belonging to the Maritime Section of Split Gymnasium (classicsprogramme secondary school). The inaugural meeting was held in January 1925 and a Club management was elected. It consisted of the following members: Jakov Kirhmajer, Nenad Grisogono, Mirko Antunović, Duško Mladinov and Petar Ljubić.
Jakov Kirhmajer, the first president of Labud, succeeded in attracting numerous devotees of yachting to the new club premises on the ground floor of the Mazzi house on the waterfront then called Marjanska Obala. He organized regattas and promotional excursions, increased the number of boats and yachts and trained a new young generation of yachtsmen. All his life Jakov Kirhmajer was a member of the Y.C. Labud. For the benefit of the Club, he was elected president twice in 1946 and 1952.
The young founders of Labud, aware that the desired organizational and financial progress of the club could not be made without the help of more experienced people, turned for help to Žarko Dešković, a civil engineer who, like other members of his family, had considerable yachting experience. In the following 15 years (1926 1941), Žarko Dešković, full of enthusiasm, energy and ideas, helped Labud, a small club, to grow into a European club and take part in the European Championships and the 1936 Olympic Games. This yachting pioneer devoted all his life to Labud and never abandoned it. It is impossible to enumerate all his merits, so only the most important ones are mentioned here: he promoted competitive sailing and in 1937, in the cove Uvala Baluni, organized and supervised the building of Labud’s marina with a breakwater, a clubhouse and a boathouse, which was financed by the club members. Dešković helped Labud to succeed in boatbuilding. He was an exemplary veteran who trained many generations of young Club members. After the design of the wellknown yacht designer Tiller, he built his large wooden cruiser called Polet, one of the nicest and largest yachts in the Adriatic. He spent his entire lifetime in his marina. If he wasn’t there he was at sea. There wasn’t a regatta that he missed. There wasn’t a wind he didn’t challenge. In 1963, aged 73, he sailed his boat Mali brodić in the 1st International TransAdriatic Regatta TriesteAnconaSplit and won the first place in Group C. He was his club’s lifetime honorary president.
Labud is also its boats
Labud is a symbol of a 75 yearold symbiosis in which people without boats or boats without people could not have survived history and entered the present. While the first boats of the sandolina, guc and pasara types were built and kept, it was as early as 1926 that the members of Labud, wishing to promote yachting and supported by Dešković, started to plan the building of a national sailing boat that would posses all necessary maritime properties for racing and cruising within their financial means. Captain Ante Martinolic designed a sailing boat called L5 which he then developed from a boat with a centreboard such as Labud I (1927) to the one with a fixed keel such as Lasta I (1928). The year of 1931 saw the construction of Lasta II which was the best of its type and was later taken as a model for many others. The first, 1929 number of Jedra, Labud’s newsletter, described its basic features and pointed out that it had become ‘not only a national type but also Dalmatia’s truly vernacular sailing boat’. The exceptional maritime qualities of Martinolić’s model were proved by numerous victories. Even today frequent mention is made of the success of an L5 boat in the CentralDalmatian Regatta in 1937 when in a SE force eight gale its crew (Jakov Kirhmajer, Branko TresićPavičić and Ivan Buić) was the only one among 12 others to sail 18 infernal miles windward from Maslinica to Hvar in only 8 hours (while on that very day, because of bad weather, no coastal ship left the Split harbour). Captain Martinolić, lovingly called barba Ante, was named the first honorary Club member.
Postwar Labud
In 1940 Labud numbered as many as 30 members and 93 boats, but World War II stopped its further progress. All activities ceased, the marina grew quiet. At the end of 1944 the enemy left Split, which marked the end of the war in which 11 Labud members were killed. The marina by the Sustipan peninsula, dilapidated and damaged, was facing a new life. Only one third of its boats were usable, but the 4 years of longing for sailing soon brought back the members to their club. Besides sailing, Labud also promoted other sea sports in Split: powerboating and fishing. The members who engaged in powerboating and fishing sports made a significant contribution to the Club’s reputation. They also encouraged yachting and all Labud’s activities. Three traditional regattas were held as early as 1946. The Vis Regatta, which had been organized by Labud since 1934, was revived in 1958. Friendly relations between Labud and the Island of Vis have been intensified since 1992 by introducing the Regatta in celebration of Sovereignty Day, sailed on the route Split Komi`a Split. In 1947 Labud had 305 members. Owing to the enthusiasm of its members the Club constantly developed. The increasingly larger number of members and their sport activities stimulated the Club Management to reconstruct the clubhouse and start building a new boathouse. In 1963 the breakwater was lengthened to the Split harbour red lighthouse. This was an activity in which, besides the Club members, many citizens of Split engaged ardently. On that occasion, concrete pillars for a new central pier were also erected. The reconstruction of the clubhouse drew to a close. Labud developed into a club renowned for its marina and whose members participated in a number of national and international regattas from which they often returned as medallists.
From Labud’s boatbuilding yard
Labud’s success was not only achieved at sea. The prewar tradition of boat designing and building at Uvala Baluni was also continued after World War II. Until 1970, its boatbuilding yard employed the best boat builders.
Labud’s enviable boatbuilding achievements can be illustrated by only two facts from its history: In 1950, 25 kayaks and 14 sailing boats of the Omladinac class were built. In 1966, when the boatbuilding yard employed a foreman and five workers, and sailmaking services were provided by a foreman and one worker, 50 sailing boats of the Cadet class, ordered by the Croatian Sailing Association, were built along with several cruisers.
Mrduja – more than a regatta
The legendary dispute between the people of Brač and Šolta as to whom Mrduja islet belonged was solved by the members of Labud in October 1927 by making Mrduja an oasis of sports friendship for all those fond of the sea, boats and islands. Seven white “swans” (labud meaning ‘swan’ in Croatian) sailed 22 nautical miles in the first Mrduja Regatta which was won by the wellknown yacht Magima skippered by her owner and longtime
passionate Labud yachtsman, Conte Toni Pavlović. Since that autumn the Mrduja Regatta has been part of this region’s heritage in which friendship and relaxation mark the end of the yachting season, surpassing the traditional competitive rivalry. This regatta has become the most popular regatta in Croatia. The Mrduja Regatta was organized each year until 1940, and after a break during World War II, it was resumed in September 1946 when it was decided that the winner would be proclaimed the fastest boat in Dalmatia. Mrduja is sailed even today. In the autumn of 1999, on its 68th anniversary, it scored a record of 124 boats and more than 600 competitors. Mrduja has no limits. It is a regatta in which even 80 yearold veterans and their great grandchildren take part. Entire families make up the boats’ crews. There can be seen the latest models of yachts to which this regatta offers an opportunity to demonstrate their performance. There are also oldtimers for which this is an occasion to “stretch their wooden legs”. Mrduja attracts all people who are fond of Split and sailing and who look forward to this Regatta as the most pleasant meeting place before the long winter.
