—
Days
In August, twelve of us are flying to Croatia to spend a week on a 52-foot catamaran for Yacht Week. We're swimming in Stiniva Cove. We're docking in Hvar. We're regatta-ing in Šolta. We're (some of us, allegedly) doing resistance-band workouts on the deck at sunrise.
And in the middle of all of it, Dad is turning 70.
He's spent the last 50 years building things, fixing things, raising us, and giving everyone he meets a reason to stick around. This is the trip we throw him.
From the garage to the Adriatic. The man who could rebuild anything in his shop is getting a week where the only thing he has to operate is a deck chair.
↗ donsgarage.makeacompany.aiThe "Hoes on Boats" group chat made flesh. Officially: a catamaran charter. Unofficially: a floating family reunion.
Two hulls. Three decks of usable real estate. A flybridge for the captain, a cockpit for dinner, a trampoline at the bow for the people who need to lie down between swims.
Catamarans don't heel like monohulls — drinks stay on tables, and Don's coffee stays in the mug. That's the whole pitch.
The classic Yacht Week Croatia loop. Saturday boarding in Split, the islands all week, Saturday disembark. Times approximate. Plans, like winds, shift.
Board the catamaran at ACI Marina. Provisioning run, first dinner on deck, sleep in the harbor. Diocletian's 1,700-year-old palace sits a 10-minute walk away if anyone has energy left.
Sail south to Hvar — sunniest island in Croatia, allegedly 2,700 hours a year. Stari Grad if we want medieval and quiet, Hvar Town if we want Carpe Diem and crowds. We will pick both, in that order.
The furthest-from-the-mainland inhabited island in Croatia. Closed to foreigners until 1989 as a Yugoslav military base, which is why the wine is good and the village is still small. Mamma Mia 2 was filmed here.
Two cliffs almost touching, a beach the size of a tennis court tucked behind them. European Best Beach 2016. The catamaran anchors outside; we swim or dinghy in. Bring a waterproof speaker.
The Pakleni Islands, off Hvar. Pine-shaded coves, Meneghello's white-tablecloth restaurant under fig trees. We dock here for the birthday dinner. Cake survives the day, somehow.
Maslinica on the west side — seven tiny islets, an 18th-century castle turned hotel, the Yacht Week regatta finishes here. Olive oil island. Quiet on the surface, rowdy by dinner.
Swing through Trogir's UNESCO old town for lunch, then sail back to Split for the final night. Pack tomorrow. Tonight: one more deck dinner, all twelve, the lights of the city across the bay.
10:00 off the boat. Some of us fly home. Some of us extend in Hvar. All of us reread the group chat for six weeks.
A group of Swedish friends rented a few boats in Croatia in 2006 and brought a DJ. The next year they brought more boats. By 2010 it was a flotilla. Today it's the biggest sailing event in the world — a week-long, island-hopping party where ~50–150 yachts move together from cove to cove, dropping anchor in raft-ups, with daytime swim stops and nighttime parties on islands you've never heard of.
Croatia is the original route. There's now a Greece week, a British Virgin Islands week, a Sardinia week. None of them are this one. The Croatian coast has 1,200+ islands and the Adriatic stays warm into October — it was always going to win.
Swedish friends rent a handful of boats in Croatia, bring a sound system, invent a category.
Catamarans, monohulls, and the occasional gulet — moving together, anchoring together, partying together.
Only ~50 are inhabited. The rest are anchorages, swim coves, and lunch stops you'll never find on a map.
Some pinned moments from the "Hoes on Boats" thread. Direct quotes. Names lightly redacted.
Catamaran storage is generous by boat standards and tiny by hotel standards. Roll, don't fold. Hard suitcases have nowhere to live.