Volosko

Volosko is the old fishing harbour at the northern end of the Opatija riviera, tucked into the Kvarner Bay with the Učka ridge rising behind it. You launch straight off the beach into deep water within a few metres, and you ride with the green coast on one side and the islands of Cres and Krk on the horizon. The wind is the tramontana. On clear nights cool air gathers in the hills behind the village and pours down to the sea in the morning, 13 to 25 knots on a good day and strongest in spring and autumn. By the afternoon it has gone, which is why the coaching happens in the morning and the rest of the day is yours. Blowing off the land, it leaves the bay flat. Flat water and a clean launch is the combination that makes this a rare place to learn to foil. A first flight is far less daunting when a fall means flat water and a short swim, and when there is nothing to fight on the way back out.