The "Delfin" Sailing Club from Tivat is celebrating a great anniversary this year - 75 years since the founding of the Maritime and Shipping Society, as this association of lovers of the sea, ships and sailing was once called.
On this occasion, as announced yesterday by the Board of Directors of JK "Delfin", a series of events will be organized throughout the year to mark the great jubilee, which will be concluded with a ceremonial academy as part of the November Days of the Municipality of Tivat.
JK "Delfin" was founded on January 20, 1951 as a Maritime and Shipping Society under the same name, and over the decades it has grown into one of the most important sports teams in Tivat and Montenegro, with a rich tradition, enviable sports results and a strong connection with the local community.
Primarily a sports club, “Delfin” has left a deep mark on the Yugoslav and later Montenegrin sailing scene throughout its history. In the first decades of its existence, it particularly excelled in cruising on the Adriatic with the legendary cruisers “Suton” and “Crnogorska”, as well as in the competitive classes Stela and 470. In the Optimist and Laser (ILCA) classes, the club has dominated domestic regattas over the past two decades and achieved notable results on the international scene, and the Tivat club can also boast of organizing several international competitions. Today, this club is focused on supporting the most promising competitors, as well as developing a strong base in the Optimist class.
Since it pays great attention to working with the youngest categories, JK “Delfin” is considered a kind of unofficial “primary maritime school under sail” in which generations of Tivat residents gain knowledge about the sea, winds, sea currents, but also in general, the way of life with the sea and by the sea, i.e. respect for nature, ecology and local traditions and cultural heritage. “Delfin” is a strategic partner of the Municipality and the Tivat Tourist Organization, and this club also enjoys the trust and partnership of the Faculty of Maritime Studies of the University of Montenegro and the Institute of Marine Biology of Kotor, all local cultural institutions and numerous other representatives of public life in Tivat and Boka.
On the occasion of the anniversary, club president Dr. Frano Tripović said that "seventy-five years are beautiful years", and that "Delfin", despite all the challenges it has been through and is going through, is today "strong, healthy and vital, as if it is just beginning its long story".
"Because of "Dolphin", the sea flows through the veins of many Tivat residents who acquired the knowledge and skills that determined their professional and life path in this club," said Tripović.
He reminded that the club's activities are organized through two main sections: the section of sports, competitive sailing, which includes the Optimist class - divided into a competitive group and the sailing school "Be an Optimist" within Delfin's "School of the Sea", as well as the ILCA classes (ILCA 4, ILCA 6 and ILCA 7), which include Olympic classes for women and men, while the second section of the club fosters cruising sailing, which brings together numerous enthusiasts of this sport, in a competitive and recreational spirit.
As emphasized by the management of "Delfin", more than a hundred children pass through the "School of the Sea" during the summer, and in recent years the program has also been attended by participants from abroad, from as many as eight countries around the world, including the USA. The club currently has 28 young sailors in the Optimist class, who, with the support of the Municipality of Tivat, the Luštica Bay company and numerous sponsors, are provided with all the conditions for training at sea even during the challenging winter months.
The club's most promising competitor, Ilija Marković - an ILCA class sailor, is a scholarship holder of the International Olympic Committee and a young Olympic hope, who is believed to be able to bring another Olympic participant to Tivat and Montenegro in the future.
A special segment of the "Delfin" activities is the cruising sailing section, which has developed the "Wind Festival - Wind Fest" platform around the traditional "Tivat Regatta". The festival, which is being held this year for the fifth time in a row, engages the local community through sports, culture and education in order to preserve the tangible and intangible maritime heritage of Tivat and Boka, bringing together locals, but also numerous guests.
"The Sailing Club "Delfin" did change its name, but it managed to preserve and continue to nurture the spirit of the former Maritime and Shipping Society," said Dr. Tripović, expressing his expectation that in the future the wider community and the state will "even more strongly recognize the importance of sailing and our sailing clubs for the development of sports, youth and the community as a whole."
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