Outward Bound school Croatia and CMRS, Maritime - climbing expedition
25/08/2014
Late in the evening on the 1 of August 2014, our little expedition outward bound from Murter port - as a true “Outward Bound” adventure, carrying all the dangers and possible adversity as well as all the benefits - and set sail to meet new challenges.
The objectives were: to sail up to 80km distant Jabuka Island, the farthest island in the Adriatic Sea, climb the highest elevation and, if possible set up a safe climbing access to the top.
At dawn the next day, after sailing wavy sea all night long, our Bavaria 44 arrived near the island and the sea calmed down as it welcomes us. We toured the entire island and determined the best location for unloading. Six climbers, with the help of raft, landed on a rock: two young sport climbers, an experienced climber, one mountain guide and Outward Bound instructor and two members of the CMRS (Croatian Mountain Rescue Service).
The lower part of the rock is solid and is equipped with a few fixes. At the end of steepest bottom of the cliff we set the anchor for the descent rope. The rock at the top of the climb becomes more ruinous and it looks like “a bunch of unstable rocks,” but with a few extra classic pitons direction has been made safer. For all visitors - climbers are recommended to use a helmet.
In 2007, Czech climbers placed a galvanized box with a register book on top of Jabuka Island. Thirty people were enrolled in the book over the past years.
While we were climbing and bathing in our own sweat our support team was burning on the sun and cooling in the sea all day. Nevertheless, they managed to cook lunch for us, while we could not wait to refresh in the blue Adriatic sea.
On the way back, after a few hours of sailing away from any vessel, we barely squeezed into the crowded Komiza port.
Second day: the girls took advantage of the morning and climbed from the sea – popular Deep Water Soloing (DWS), but skipper warned us of the coming storm, which also came true. After torrential rain, clouds began to tear, and the direction of the wind became favorable. We have adopted the right sailing school. The support team has come into its own finally.
We took fuel on a gas station in Jezera place, and spent the night in the Slanica bay, near Murter.
Third day: we met Kornati archipelago, the girls put climbing shoes again, jumped into the sea along the Mana Island and have improved their skills in DWS-in. Luckily the wind continues to serve us, and we continued with the sailing school.
And the next night we spent in Slanica bay also.
Fourth day: Murter - Vrgada - and unloading in Biograd. End of story.
Epilogue: despite the experience, knowledge and skills that this team ruled, there is always something new that can be learned. And in the terminology of team building or experiential learning, we dealt with: the management of human and material resources (equipment, food, time), the competence assignment, cooperation and communication in a small limited space, dealt with heat, we have corrected mistakes and learned or renewed skills (sailing and solo climbing out of the sea). We improved the Adriatic tourism infrastructure by setting up a safe climbing access to the top of Jabuka Island and thereby become a piece in the mosaic of possibilities for adventure activities in Croatia.
We shared the knowledge, experience and enthusiasm of different generations, goal dedication for the benefit of all adventure lovers, and built a great team and above all we had a lot of fun!
Expedition Jabuka 2014
