Their fate seemed sealed for the first time during the Yugoslavian war in the early 1990s. While "Hir 3" was in winter storage on land, a shell hit nearby. 286 bomb splinters sifted through the hull in such a way that daylight shone through. Any normal person would have written the sailing boat off and scrapped it.
But "Hir 3" was not allowed to die. "She is a piece of Croatian sailing history," says her current owner, Croatian Sasa Fegic. The previous owner obviously felt the same way and painstakingly laminated each of the 286 holes. A Sisyphean task.
The "Hir 3" has great significance for Croatian sailing
The best way for German sailors to understand why this sailing boat is so special is to look at the yacht's achievements: Mladen Sutjes-Barbara, the first owner, was the first Croatian to sail around the world via the three great capes from 1989 to 1992. The trip was the initial spark for Croatian sailing, as the skipper took a camera with him. What he brought back thrilled the country's public television so much that a 35-part series emerged from the voyage of the "Hir 3". This was followed by various books and later other adventurous trips, including through the Northwest Passage, as well as a transatlantic race.
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"I watched the series on television as a child and it captivated me," said Fegic during our visit in 2018. "Hir 3" is to the Croats what Wilfried Erdmann's "Kathenas" is to the Germans: it sparked wanderlust in generations of sailors. Even in Fegic, who grew up in Zagreb far from the coast and dreamed of travelling across the vastness of the oceans from a young age.
Before the 34-foot sloop, built in 1979, found its way to him, he had to save it from certain death a second time. After the first owner sold the boat, various other owners let it fall into disrepair. Completely covered in verdigris, full of rainwater and mould, the hull densely overgrown, the "Hir 3" was rotting away on a mooring wall.
The sailing yacht "Hir 3" is set to travel around the world
Sasa Fegic had already been working in the charter industry for almost 15 years as a base crew and skipper. "The sailing boat caught my eye by chance in 2014. I had never looked for it, but I recognised it immediately," Fegic recalls. He was electrified by his discovery. "I knew immediately: a circumnavigation, that's it - with this boat!" It felt like an honour to be allowed to take over the famous, albeit badly neglected, ship. He bought the damaged icon for 8,000 euros without giving it much thought.
The first inventory was sobering. Mould and water damage everywhere below deck, only a few teak and oak parts could be saved. The engine wasn't running, the electronics were shot, the sails and running rigging were rotten. In short: a case for the scrapper. Sasa Fegic saw things differently. He saw a sailing boat that symbolised the vastness of the seas, that had proven what it was capable of, a slumbering beauty that only needed a loving hand.
In fact, the lines of the "Hir 3", which are visibly characterised by the IOR era, appear timeless and very pleasing when we visit the owner in his home port on the island of Mali Losinj. Little is known about the long-closed CAT shipyard, except that it was founded by an Italian doctor who started building boats with his son as a hobby rather than his main profession. His name was Carlo Alberto Tiberio, hence the acronym. It is said that only 30 to 40 yachts were built in his company.
Sasa Fegic's dream boat was launched in 1979, initially as a hull. The original owner built the hull himself, switching from his two previous wooden boats to the GRP era for the first time - which explains the "3" in "Hir 3".
High expenditure for the reconstruction of the "Hir 3"
Judging by the distances she has travelled and the devastation she has survived so far, it must be a highly durable construction. And so the immense effort that Sasa Fegic undertook to save her again seems entirely justified.
Coming from a humble background, he has to save the reconstruction from his mouth. This is another reason why he tries to save every original component. He dismantles the engine into its individual parts and repairs it piece by piece. For the aged Lofrans anchor winch, he rattles off more than 20 companies until he gets the now historic original part. Spars, fittings, hatches, the eight winches - he takes everything apart and makes it work again. He only exchanges standing and running rigging for new goods.
At the same time, the Croatian starts an online blog about the project. Word of his plan gradually spread through the Croatian sailing scene. "That's how many friends came to help me. Someone who knew a lot about yacht electrics rewired the whole boat for me, a sailmaker helped with the new wardrobe, and metalworkers helped with the welding."
Mladen Sutjes-Barbara, the first owner of the "Hir 3", heard about the project and came round to take a look at the sailing boat. "He supports me publicly, which is a great help, because his word carries weight in the local sailing world," says Fegic. He also learnt from him about the outstanding build quality of the boat: the beams and keel forces are absorbed by elaborately laminated steel reinforcements.
The owner's motto: repair, don't throw away
And then there were these other happy coincidences: Mladen Sutjes-Barbara had equipped the "Hir 3" with a wind steering system for the trip around the world, but later sold it because he no longer needed it. Miraculously, three years ago, a friend of Sasa Fegic met an owner who wanted to sell his system and incidentally told him that it was that of the "Hir 3". Fegic struck immediately. And so another original component returned to the ship.
For Sasa Fegic, such successes are a source of satisfaction. "I'm an old-school mechanic. I love repairing things; throwing things away is not my thing. I want to keep it that way on the cruise too: With a few exceptions, I haven't installed any technology that I can't repair myself. Instead, I carry heaps of spare parts on board." A lesson learnt from his time in the charter industry.
The restoration also brought many other surprises. In the dirty bilge was an old grenade from the shelling during the Yugoslavian war, which had probably been overlooked when the bullet holes were repaired. Other finds included a medal for a third place in the "Hir 3" during the transatlantic race from Miami to Rijeka in 1983 and a commemorative coin from another regatta, which was obviously lying under the mast base as a talisman; there was also an original Haitian clay totem from the first voyage, as the previous owner told him. It has found a place of honour on the mast bulkhead. Everything that the new owner considered to be of historical value was allowed to remain on board - with the exception of the grenade, however.
Many parts on board the "Hir 3" date back to wartime in Yugoslavia
This also includes the massive, lead-heavy metal boom brake, which is firmly attached under the boom above the cabin roof. It probably saved the life of a crew member during the circumnavigation from 1989 to 1992. While working on the sail on deck in heavy weather and rough seas, a bolt of the wind self-steering system suddenly broke. The sailing boat made a dramatic patent jibe. The boom would have swept the man off the deck, but the brake - a replica of a Western European product - saved him from falling into the sea. "How could I dismantle a part with a history like that?" asks Sasa Fegic.
He spends a whole year on the restoration. He quits his job for it, toiling day and night. As the project slowly began to bear fruit, the Croatian met his current girlfriend Marina Dukanovic. The marketing specialist had never sailed before, but was immediately infected by Fegic's enthusiasm. She helps him with his blogging and makes contacts with the media. The two are trying to finance a second voyage of the "Hir 3" around the world via crowdfunding. Once again, they plan to sail in stages around the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn, but this time in just twelve months instead of two and a half years. Two of these are real challenges: non-stop from Cape Town to Australia and from New Zealand to Ushuaia. In 2020, he was able to fulfil his dream and successfully complete the circumnavigation with the "Hir 3" to the cheers of his friends and fans.
Anyone who goes sailing with Sasa Fegic and Marina Dukanovic on the IOR-era sailing boat off Mali Losinj will realise that there is a lot of experience in the equipment of the "Hir 3". Everything has its place and is well thought out. Whether it's the knife under the tiller that is always ready to hand, clever padded bags that allow you to wedge yourself in at the navigation table or even sleep in the cockpit, or the clever idea of choosing bilge and toilet pumps of the same design so that they can be swapped if necessary.
But the Croatian has little sense for high-tech and, on top of that, too little money: radar and AIS are therefore not on board, nor is modern rescue technology. Only a satellite phone and an Epirb for emergencies are included. By spoilt Western European standards, the boat may look a little old and tinkered with in some places, but the Croatian is not even thinking of replacing the patina of a long life with gloss paint and new parts. You can tell that the "Hir 3" has already experienced and mastered a lot. Like her proud new owner, she is truly no dazzler.
In the breeze of a mild evening wind, "Hir 3" sails fully laden through the Adriatic. With the large genoa typical of her time of construction, she is still travelling quite comfortably. After everything she has already survived, the second circumnavigation was a finger exercise.
