Jubilee 20thZoki's regatta
The jubilee 20th sailing regatta dedicated to a pilot and a sailor Major Zoran Radosavljević has been held in Belgrade today.
On two racing fields, on the Danube and Sava rivers, 65 sailing boat crews competed in the following classes: “micro” – 5.5 meters long, “cruiser”, more than 5.5 meters long, “laser” and “optimist”, for boys and girls up to 14 years of age, with more than 100 yachtsmen.
This was the 20th time to sail for Major Zoran Radosavljević, pilot of the 127th Fighter Aviation Squadron “Knights” of the Yugoslav Army, who died in the defence of the fatherland on 27thMarch 1999.
In the “crusader” class, after summing up the results of the first and the second competition days, the first place was won by the military crew of the ship “Min”, led by skipper Sub-Lieutenant Jovanović. In the “micro” class, the best result was achieved by the sailing club Zemun with skipper Dragan Petrović. The first in the class of the sailing boats Laser 4.7 was Ana Jovanović, in the “Laser R” class Marko Petković, and in the “Laser S” class Matija Ondrik.
Celebrated as the “regatta with emotions”, the memorial sailing regatta Zoran Radosavljević, gathered a large number of sailors, Zoran's colleagues, friends and admirers this year again, and the delegation of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces was led by Air Force and Air Defence Commander Major General Ranko Živak who conferred awards to those most successful.
Members of the River Flotilla secured the regatta field, cadets of the Military Academy assisted in the organization of the race and competed within the sailing crews, while members of the Air Force and Air Defence, by sorties of helicopters of “gazelle” type, symbolically marked the beginning of the regatta in memory of their fellow pilot Major Zoran Radosavljević.
The organizers of the regatta are the “Regatta Zoran Radosavljević” association, the Zemun sailing club and the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces. Significant assistance was also provided by the Serbian Ministry of Interior – River Police, Ministry of Transport, Port Authority, First Steamboat Company and other companies.
“Zoran Radosavljević” memorial sailing regatta was first held in Montenegro in 1999, and since May 2007 it has been organised in Belgrade.