History

Club history

The boating society “Zvir” was founded in 1951 by 59 young locals of Hvar, all in love with the sea. Frane Čubretović was elected its first president, with Ante Mišetić as secretary.

The members built their first boats themselves:

• 4 boats of the šljuka type
• 1 L-5 type boat
• 1 dinghy
• 2 boats of the omladinac type
• 2 Finn-type boats (one privately owned)

They raced actively across the Adriatic — sailing to regattas in Dubrovnik, Split, Stari Grad, Zadar, Opatija and Pula. The boats were wooden, hauled out and stored every late October. The society's activity died down in 1963.

In 1975 Zdenko Roić of Hvar revived the society and hit upon the idea that one could sail in winter too, over New Year — and so the New Year's Regatta was born. With the help of Mladen Makjanić, then Croatia's best Laser sailor, the club wrote to ILCA in London and was awarded its first Laser Europa Cup in 1989/90 — many wondered how such a small club could pull it off. The war years broke the streak, yet the people of Hvar kept sailing every New Year regardless, making it clear the tradition would continue.

At the 12th regatta, sailed into New Year 1987, 44 Laser sailors from West Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia took part. Mladen Makjanić of Split won all five races, the navigational race on the last day included, and with it the Zdenko Roić Memorial — the trophy for the best sailor across the navigational race and all the other races together, with no discards. He took home all seven trophies.

Since 1995 the New Year's sailing has been organized again — at first with six Optimists and six Lasers, and over the years the regatta grew to 347 sailors in the 2006/07 edition. The Laser Europa Cup returned to Hvar in 2001/02.

At the 25th, jubilee regatta of 2001/02, when the Europa Cup came back to Hvar after ten years, 107 boats from eleven European countries raced in the Pakleni Channel. In its fiftieth year the club lived very modestly — „We are not ashamed to beg for 100 kuna“, a newspaper headlined the words of its president, Nikoletto pl. Dujmović. The next, 26th regatta was held under the patronage of the President of Croatia, Stjepan Mesić, who received a club delegation at his summer residence in Hvar and promised to join the sailing school in the summer.

The club has always run on volunteer work. For decades its heart and soul has been secretary Nikša Ive — Čane: coach, van driver and organizer of the New Year's Regatta. Among the sailors who made the club's name are Vedran Grga Ive and Bojan Ive, and generations of Hvar children have passed through the sailing school. The club's first van was a twenty-year-old right-hand-drive Renault Trafic — a gift from an American in love with Hvar, Mr. Ben Hvar.

Bojan Ive won two Croatian Optimist titles in Poreč, individual and team; by then he and his brother Vedran sailed for JK Split, as the family could no longer carry the cost of competing alone. At the 1999 Optimist European Championship in Mati near Athens, aged eleven, he was on course for bronze as the third European until a protest by a Greek sailor disqualified him in the last race — he finished 12th, Vedran 11th.

The clubhouse — the old Macel

The club's building in Križna luka bay was built in 1887, to a design by Hvar master builder Vicko Kovačević, as the town slaughterhouse — the “Macel”. The slaughterhouse had previously stood in front of the Arsenal; as the town grew it was removed in 1875 and relocated to what was then the empty, uninhabited Križna luka bay. The semicircular stone arch with its pronounced springers and keystone was carried over from the earlier building.

The slaughterhouse operated until 1960, when a new one was built in Vela Garška bay. The old Macel then served as an INA fuel depot and later a boatbuilder's workshop, before being assigned to JK Zvir in 1981. The building was a ruin at the time — no roof, windows or doors. The club moved in in 1982: members built the quay and a new roof, and in 1985 the club bought the land from the Franciscan friars of the nearby monastery. Through the great effort of club members the Macel was restored into the clubhouse.

In 2025 the club moved into the new Zvir — a building not yet finished, but already in use for the children.