June 27th, 2012

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Wednesday June 27 in Sumartin on Brac

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

This is most likely the last stop on the Croation Islands. And it turned out to be the town with the most connections to Gig Harbor and Tacoma than any of the previous places visited.

I am sitting here using the wireless internet of Srdzan Skansi. He is a direct relative of the Gig Harbor/Tacoma Skansie families. Yesterday I came across quite a few Vlahoviches in the cemetery in the town of Milna. I mailed one of the Vlahovich tomb pictures to John Vlahovich in Tacoma. I knew John and Mary casually when I was a member of the Tacoma Lawn and Tennis Club from 1973 till I moved to Gig Harbor in 1984. John wrote me back right a way and told me that his roots are in this village. I met his uncle and aunt Velko and Nikolina Kazolin who remodeled the home John’s mother was born in. Right across from where his father lived. John’s grandfather Simon Kazolin designed and built the very first Dalmatian  seiner fishing vessel here in Sumartin in 1928. See below picture of the scale model.

I had a terrific sail here. I followed the southern coast line of Brac and some very strong gusts were coming down from the hills. I was doing over 6 knots hard on the wind with two reefs and the 90 % jib.