Komiža/island of Vis St. Nicholas

St. Mikula in Komiža

The Day of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, in Komiža on the island of Vis is a special event. Every year, in front of St. Nicholas’ Church (Mikula in the Komiža dialect) an old wooden fishing boat known as a falkuša is set on fire in honour of St. Nicholas.
The Komiža falkuša fishing boat represented Croatia at the World EXPO Fair in 1998 in Portugal. On St. Nicholas’ Day in Komiža, the locals, the inquisitive and solo sailors (organised by the Mornar (Sailor) Sailing Club) all prepare themselves to tackle the sea, the wind and the waves in a regatta for solo sailors, which is of course called the St. Nicholas Regatta.

• The falkuša fishing boat is now the most researched Croatian boat as the result of an international project called "The Evolution of Wooden Shipbuilding in the Eastern Mediterranean", set up by the Athens Hellenistic Centre with UNESCO sponsorship.
• The falkuša fishing boat is the only Croatian fishing boat that dared to sail out of the Adriatic into the Mediterranean Sea. It sailed all the way to Malta. This fishing boat was the one to meet Pope Alexander III in Palagruža in 1177 and to lead the convoy of his galleys to Komiža.
• The boat belongs to the maritime world. This is the only ongoing tradition of boat sacrifice for the salvation of all other boats and sailors out at sea in the Mediterranean. In Komiža, a boat is set on fire on every 6 of December on the Day of St. Nicholas.

The St. Nicholas Solo Regatta