Yesterday, on 17 May 2013, the Exhibitors' Evening of Internautica took place in Restaurant Laguna, Marina Portorož. The event included the award ceremony for the Adriatic Boat of the Year 2013. For the first time, the Slovenian-Croatian ten-member jury chose the Adriatic Boat of the Year and the winners were revealed at Exhibitors' Evening.
Winners in group Motor Boats are:
Brig Eagle 650 for category Dinghy
Jeanneau Merry Fisher 855 & 855 Marlin for category Sport Motor Boat
Marex 320 for category Motor Yacht from 20 to 40 feet
Contest 52MC for category Motor Yacht from 40 to 55 feet
Ferretti 690 for category Motor Yacht from 55 to 70 feet
Pershing 82 for category Motor Yacht over 70 feet
Winners in group Sailing Boats are:
Dufour Grand Large 335 for category Cruiser up to 40 feet
Hallberg Rassy 415 for category Cruiser from 40 to 60 feet
Elan 400 for category Performance up to 40 feet
Xp 50 for category Performance from 40 to 60 feet
J70 for category Daysailer
Baltic 65 for category Sailing Boat over 60 feet
At Friday's Exhibitors' Evening, the organizers also awarded the winners of the three special categories. The Adriatic Product of the Year award, among motor and sailing boats of Adriatic production (ITA, SLO, CRO, MN), went to Seascape 27.
Adriatic Personality of the Year, i.e. the person who has invested the most effort into popularization of boating, is Slavko Linić, Finance Minister of the Republic of Croatia, who introduced lower tax for sport and leisure boats. The goal of that decision was to keep the boats in Croatia, also after the accession to the EU, in order to maintain the present income from nautical tourism.
As the Adriatic Project of the Year, the jury chose Adriatic Sea Forum, which took place at Trieste, on 22 and 23 March 2013. The forum hosted experts, who shared their knowledge on connecting tourism and boating in the Adriatic Region.
On Friday, 17 May, organizers also staged the Internautica Media Cup 2013 regatta, featuring teams of representatives of the Slovenian media. The winner of the race, as well as the Internautica Cup, is the team of Val navtika magazine and their skipper Julijan Višnjevec.