Novi Vinodolski. A really nice seaside town on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, at the mouth of the valley of the vineyards (Vinodol in Croatian) that stretches from Bakarac to the sea, below the mountains of Gorski Kotar and the rise of Velebit. It is a prime tourist place, with a mild climate, clean sea, and pleasant setting. A perfect vacation spot for many – including the first president of our kite club and his lovely wife.
Novi is blessed by the sea and the sun … but not so much with the wind. Not that there would be not enough of it – exactly the opposite.
So Janez already fought five rounds with the winds of Novi, lost three and won two – and now a chance involving some plant smuggling gave us an opportunity to try again.
The most prized KAP target in Novi is a small island called Čaplen with a chapel of St Marin just off the coast (you can see it in the second photo above).
The extant chapel dates to the 17th century, but it was built on the foundations of a much older (9th century?) church that itself covered some Roman edifice from the Late Antiquity. A marble stela with an inscription honoring Empress Helena by the governor of Dalmatia, Flavius Julius Rufinus Sarmentius, was found on the island.
All the forecasts were extremely favourable, there was a plant (a Japanese dogwood) to be transported to Novi, so we packed our gear and headed to the seaside.
We assembled the kites, Cindy and the Original Blue Rokkaku; the bell sounded, and Round 6 was on:
It was pretty much astonishing. We have all seen a kite do a 360 when the wind at some level is blowing in one direction, and in the opposite a bit higher. But to pull like hell through the full circle, that has never happened to us. And there were holes in the wind stream that sucked the kite down tens of meters in seconds, and at times the wind was wayyyy too strong for the poor rokkaku …
What’s wrong with the winds above Novi Vinodolski?
It’s the geology.
Novi Vinodolski sits at the foothills of both Gorski Kotar and Velebit mountain ranges, right in the path of the mighty bora wind that in the area between Crikvenica and Senj regularly reaches speeds of over 140 km/h. Just behind the town is the mouth of the Vinodol valley, a tectonic quirk created by two parallel faults in the general Dinaric direction (NE-SW), separated from the Adriatic and boasting huge vertical cliffs on both sides.
This valley conducts a special, local wind named Bribir by the town in the valley, blowing in a southwesterly direction. When it reaches Novi, it collides with the cold Velebit bora coming from the northeast across the aptly named Ledenice (icy) village. To top the windy chaos, a local katabatic wind – basically just falling air – crashes down the cliffs north of Novi. And then the ever present Maestral that comes from the sea happily joins the party that soon spins out of control.
Anyway, the camera went up …
… and came down again fast. The kite hit a hole and dropped like a stone.
We put it back in the air again, and it was dancing like a crazy dervish, going up and left and right …
… caught Saint Marin! Ha!
And the next second it swayed, the winds collided yet again, the kite lost the lift and …
… got a thorough washing.
Indomitable, we pressed on – the Original Blue Rokkaku went up yet again, this time flying on nasty gusts of bora.
Got the island in its sights again!
But then the wind did a fast left-right combination, a strong uppercut …
… and we were down again.
Three knockdowns in the same round … we were risking a straight knockout. Luckily we were saved by the bell that ended Round 6.
We may have lost the round, but the fight is far from over. It’s crazy, it’s fun, it’s hard and sometimes hilarious. We will definitely come back for more – and we will get the bloody Saint Marin on camera properly!
All kite aerial photos shot with Nikon P330 on the Original Blue Rokkaku by Dr.Agon kites.