The thirtieth anniversary Drina regatta broke all records. According to the organizers, about 25,000 people took part in the biggest European party on the water, on more than 2,000 different boats and everything else that floats on the water.
Can you even imagine what it’s like to photograph such events? If you haven’t been and tried it, you certainly can’t! Each boat is a special photographic story with an incredible variety of people on them. Also, each boat carries its own special energy and creation, which is just an additional motive for every photographer.
The descent from the Perućac dam to Rogačica, along a 25-kilometer route, was marked by a fantastic atmosphere on about 2,000 vessels with crews arriving from countries all over the Balkans.
Kilometer-long columns of vehicles, which had been moving from Bajina Bašta towards Perućac since early morning, spilled into hundreds and even thousands of vessels that lined the Drina from the dam at Perućac. The colorfulness of vessels, from small rubber boats to large rafts, was just another unreal image of the Drina Regatta.
With this year’s Drina regatta, a certain maximum that the Drina can handle in these conditions has been reached, as far as the number of vessels is concerned. The regatta stretched for about 8-9 kilometers, which visually created an absolutely incredible ambiance for all visitors on the coast. We left Perućac at eleven o’clock, and the last boat came to Rogačica a little after 5 o’clock because it was not possible for everyone to leave at the same time.
The number of countries and languages that are heard at the regatta is increasing every year, which confirms the rating of the Drina regatta, which is called the most massive and well-known entertainment on the water of an international character.