If something goes wrong
- Phone 112 or 195, or call on VHF 16. All three reach MRCC Rijeka, the sea rescue centre. (Official source, )
- In immediate danger, call MAYDAY on VHF 16, or press the red DSC button. (Official source, ) What to say
- After a collision, grounding or engine failure, tell MRCC Rijeka at once, even if nobody is hurt. (Official source, )
- Near fast ferries, keep to the right of a channel, and never cross close ahead of one. (Official source, )
Who to call in an emergency at sea
Croatia has one sea rescue centre, MRCC Rijeka, and every emergency route at sea ends there. You don't need to know which harbourmaster's office is nearest: call, and the centre sends help. MRCC Rijeka is Croatia's national sea rescue centre. It runs searches and rescues at sea, watches sea traffic and leads the response when the sea is suddenly polluted. (Official source, )
- By phone
- 112 for any emergency. At sea, 112 puts your call through to MRCC Rijeka, the sea rescue centre. (Official source, )195 for sea rescue (MRCC Rijeka). Free from a landline or a mobile, day and night. (Official source, )
- By radio
- VHF channel 16 to ask for help at sea. (Official source, )MRCC Rijeka, the eight harbourmasters' offices and their branches, and the three coast radio stations (Rijeka, Split and Dubrovnik Radio) all keep a radio watch for distress, urgency and safety calls. (Official source, )Split Radio's MMSI is 002380100 and Rijeka Radio's is 002380200, for a DSC call to a coast station. (Official source, )
- After an accident
- After a collision, a grounding, damage, flooding, or an engine or steering failure, the skipper must tell MRCC Rijeka at once: through the coast radio on VHF channel 16 or DSC channel 70, or on the free number 195 (Article 140). (Official source, )The report gives at least the boat's name and call sign, its position, where it sailed from and is going, how many people are aboard, and what happened (Article 140). (Official source, )
- False alarms
- Sending a false distress, urgency or safety call is forbidden (Article 54). If you call by mistake, cancel it on VHF 16 straight away. (Official source, )
Save 195 in every phone aboard before you leave the marina. Free from a landline or a mobile, day and night. (Official source, )
What to say on the radio
In a real emergency people forget the words. Put this card by the radio, and read it aloud once with the crew on the first day. Plovput, which runs Croatia's coast radio stations, gives this order for a distress call. (From the operator, )
MAYDAY: immediate danger
- Switch the radio to VHF 16, on high power.
- Say "MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY".
- Say "This is" and the boat's name or call sign, three times.
- Give your position: latitude and longitude from the plotter, or a bearing and distance from a named point.
- Say what is wrong: sinking, fire, collision, aground, capsized, or a person overboard.
- Say what help you need and how many people are aboard, and describe the boat.
- Say "Over", and listen.
From Plovput's emergency procedure. (From the operator, )
- MAYDAY
- A distress call is only for a boat or crew in immediate danger that needs help at once. On channel 16: MAYDAY three times, the boat's name or call sign three times, your position, what is wrong, the help you need and how many are aboard, then Over. (From the operator, )
- PAN-PAN
- An urgency call, PAN-PAN three times, is for a threat to the boat or crew that is not immediate danger, such as a person overboard, urgent medical help or an engine failure. (From the operator, )
- SECURITE
- A safety call, SECURITE three times, gives an important warning, such as a sudden storm or an obstacle in the channel. (From the operator, )
- The red DSC button
- On a DSC radio, lift the cover and press the red DISTRESS button until the sound and light turn steady, more than 3 seconds. Then call MAYDAY on the handset. (Official source, )The alert only sends your position if the radio is connected to the plotter or has its own GPS. Check that at the handover.
- Other signals
- The ordinance counts the spoken word MAYDAY on VHF channel 16, and a DSC distress alert on VHF channel 70, among the signals of a boat in distress (Article 40). (Official source, )Red flares, orange smoke, and slowly raising and lowering your outstretched arms are distress signals too (Article 40). (Official source, )
Summer storms and the bura
Two kinds of wind cause most bad nights. The bura, from the northeast, is usually forecast days ahead and can blow hard for days. A summer storm, the nevera, comes with a front, often in an hour, and the wind can swing right round. Both can turn a calm bay into a lee shore.
- The forecast
- Read the DHMZ marine forecast every morning and before each crossing. (Official source, )DHMZ gives green, yellow, orange and red warnings for each county and for the sea areas, among them Central Dalmatia (Srednja Dalmacija). (Official source, )
- On the VHF
- Between the set times, the coast radio stations read extra wind warnings: every 2 hours for winds of 30 to 50 knots, and every hour above 50 knots. (Official source, )
When a storm is coming
- Choose tonight's harbour for the strongest wind in the forecast, and its direction, not the average.
- Reef or drop the sails early, and start the engine before the wind arrives.
- Lifejackets on, everyone in the cockpit, and the hatches shut.
- At anchor, keep someone awake on watch, and be ready to leave if the anchor drags and the wind puts the shore behind you.
Our advice, checked by a skipper reviewer. The winds, the forecasts and the VHF times are in Bura, jugo and maestral: which forecast to trust.
Fast ferries and the Split Gate
The Split Gate (Splitska vrata) is the narrow strait between Šolta and Brač. Most boats leaving the Split and Trogir marinas for the islands pass through it, and so do the fast passenger catamarans from Split. In 2026, state fast passenger lines run from Split to Milna, Šolta (Rogač), Sutivan, Hvar, Vis, Bol, Jelsa, Stari Grad, Vela Luka, Lastovo and Korčula, with more fast lines to Hvar, Bol, Supetar and Korčula run without a state contract. (Official source, )
On 14 Jun 2026 a fast passenger ship on its regular line from Split to Hvar collided with a French-flag sailing yacht on its way to the Split Gate. Four people from the yacht died, and its skipper and three passengers were hurt. (Official source, ) The passenger ship carried 118 passengers and 7 crew, and the yacht 8 people. MRCC Rijeka coordinated the search. (Official source, ) The agency opened a safety investigation on 16 Jun 2026. It had published no report when we read its page. (Official source, )
No rule is written for the Split Gate alone: neither the 2025 ordinance nor its 2026 changes names it. The general rules for narrow channels and harbour entrances apply. (Official source, )
- In a narrow channel
- In a narrow channel keep to the right-hand side. A boat under 20 m or a sailing boat must not get in the way of a ship that can only navigate safely inside the channel, and must not cross it if that gets in the ship's way (Article 12). (Official source, )
- Ferry speeds
- Ships on public coastal lines may go faster than 8 knots in narrow channels and harbour approaches when they need the speed to steer, with the harbourmaster's approval (Article 50). (Official source, )
- Near a harbour
- Within one nautical mile of a harbour entrance, boats of 20 m or less must keep out of the way of larger vessels (Article 46). (Official source, )
- Listen on the VHF
- Split vessel traffic service works on VHF channels 12 and 62, and the Split harbour area on channel 9. (Official source, )
Crossing the Split Gate
- Before you reach it, look astern and ahead for ferries. A fast catamaran that looks far away can reach you in a few minutes. More than 20,000 passages a year go through the Split Gate, over 10,000 each way, two to three times more in summer, and about 30% of them fast craft. On 14 Jun 2026 a passenger ship and a sailing yacht collided there. Keep a lookout astern (Official source, )
- Keep to the right-hand side if you go through along the channel, and cross it quickly, at a right angle, if you go from Šolta to Brač. About 5.5 NM from Stomorska to Milna, across the Split Gate. (Measured by us, )
- Make your course obvious early: one clear turn, not small changes at the last moment.
- Keep someone on watch the whole way, not below, and the engine ready even under sail.
Tenders, swimmers and divers
Near an anchorage the danger is small and fast: a tender and a swimmer in the same patch of water. The rules keep fast boats away from the shore and from bathing areas.
- Near the shore
- Within 300 m of the shore, in narrow channels and near harbours and anchorages, go no faster than 8 knots (Article 50). (Official source, )A motor boat may plane only more than 300 m from the shore (Article 50). (Official source, )Keep off the shore itself: at least 50 m in a boat under 15 m, 150 m in a boat of 15 to 30 m and 300 m at 30 m and over, except to enter or leave a harbour, anchor or moor, and then slowly (Article 49). (Official source, )
- Bathing areas
- Keep away from the boundary of an organised bathing area: at least 50 m in a boat under 15 m, 100 m from 15 to 30 m, and 300 m from 30 m up. (Official source, )
- Divers
- Keep at least 50 m from a diver's marker, unless you are the divers' own boat (Article 49). (Official source, )
- The tender
- A tender carried as your yacht's equipment may go up to 500 m from it, except to carry people or things to the nearest landing (Article 49). (Official source, )At night a motor boat under 7 m that cannot go faster than 7 knots may show one all-round white light, with sidelights if it can. A rowing boat keeps a torch ready to show in time (Articles 26 and 28). (Official source, )
In a busy bay, drive the tender slowly and look for heads in the water, above all near the beach and the boats at anchor. Wear the engine's kill cord, and never drive at night without a light.
Where you may anchor and tie ashore: Anchoring in Croatia: the rules and the fees. How the bathing-area distances changed: the rules before and after.
Before you sail: the safety check
At the handover the charter company must check the skipper's competence and go through the rescue and emergency phone numbers, what to do after an accident, and the weather reports and warnings (Article 25). (Official source, ) Use that time to ask your own questions too.
- Count the lifejackets, and try one on each child. Boats and yachts must carry a lifejacket for everyone aboard, and a child's lifejacket for each child. (Official source, )
- Find the flares, the fire extinguishers, the first aid kit and the grab bag, and show the crew.
- Check the VHF works, that its DSC is connected to the GPS, and that the boat's MMSI is set. (Official source, )
- Show a second person how to start the engine, call on the radio and stop the boat.
- Agree who drinks and who drives. The skipper and crew of a boat or yacht may not have more than 0.5 g/kg of alcohol in the blood while on duty aboard (Article 134). (Official source, )
Common questions
- What is the emergency number at sea in Croatia?
- 112 for any emergency. 195 for sea rescue (MRCC Rijeka). VHF channel 16 to ask for help at sea. (Official source, )
- Who answers a MAYDAY in Croatia?
- MRCC Rijeka, the eight harbourmasters' offices and their branches, and the three coast radio stations (Rijeka, Split and Dubrovnik Radio) all keep a radio watch for distress, urgency and safety calls. (Official source, )
- Do fast ferries have to give way to a sailing boat?
- Don't count on it. In a narrow channel a sailing boat must not get in the way of a ship that can only use the channel, and near a harbour small boats keep clear of larger ones. (Official source, ) (Official source, )
- What happened in the Split Gate in June 2026?
- On 14 Jun 2026 a fast passenger ship on its regular line from Split to Hvar collided with a French-flag sailing yacht on its way to the Split Gate. Four people from the yacht died, and its skipper and three passengers were hurt. The agency opened a safety investigation on 16 Jun 2026. It had published no report when we read its page. (Official source, )
- What is the alcohol limit for a skipper?
- The skipper and crew of a boat or yacht may not have more than 0.5 g/kg of alcohol in the blood while on duty aboard (Article 134). (Official source, )
What sailors told us
What sailors say about storms and traffic in Croatia, in their own words. We haven't checked these reports, they don't count in our checks above, and they are never safety advice.
All yachts, all charter boats have to thread through Splitska Vrata, the tiny straight between the islands of Brac and Solta while the big ferries go through there like every 20 minutes. I've been going through there all my life with my dad who's 91 now.
I've seen over 50knts across the deck when the forecast was for roughly 20knts.
The first and only time I saw 50kts across the deck was when I got caught out in a summer storm off of Korcula. It was my first summer as a charter skipper and I had no idea about summer storms.
Boats leaving in the middle of the storm as they realized their anchors where not holding. Couple charter boats ended up on the rocks.
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