The shameful decision of the HJS is the main topic these days in the sailing world and in the town of Hvar, which has been directly harmed by this decision.
Čane was a guest today on FreeFor Radiju where he thanked the sailors and the people of Hvar for their exceptional support. Everyone at the club has had their phones ringing off the hook with calls of support, and the website is recording traffic like in the days of the New Year's Regatta.
"I am terribly disappointed and angry at the Executive Committee of the HJS and at Marijan Hanžeković, who won the election with our vote."
Čane took the opportunity to congratulate Bambi on his medal at the European Championship, and pointed out that Bambi and all our other top sailors grew up in the Optimist class system, which was built on many strong regattas. This new decision has destroyed that system.
"All the sailors come to regattas with a coefficient of 1.6; no one will come to a 1.5 regatta in Hvar, because the trip is too expensive for a regatta that carries no points — and until now sailors of 27 nationalities have been coming to Hvar every year.
Our vote decided Hanžeković's election. Mayor Bebić assured me that things would be better with Hanžeković. I was present when Hanžeković promised Bebić over the phone that he would not touch the regatta in Hvar. The mayor now feels deceived too; he is angry. He has called both Hanžeković and Kuret, and we are now trying to organize the media and the sailors to get this decision changed, and to have the federation's member clubs consulted before decisions like this are made."
After 35 years, after everything we have done to popularize sailing, this is how they destroy us! With this decision they have killed sailing in Hvar".
You can listen to the whole conversation with Čane thanks to the portal otok-hvar.com:
