page_title: Bracera
section_title: Types of bracera
hierarchical_section_title: Bracera / Types of bracera
caption_attribution_description: English: A single masted square sail bracera
context_page_description: A bracera or brazzera is a traditional Adriatic coastal cargo sailing vessel originated in Dalmatia and first recorded in the 16th-century chronicles. Along with its larger sisters - trabakuls and peligs, braceras formed the backbone of the commercial fleet on the Adriatic Sea with one masted one being the most prominent and best known. This solid and very mobile boat with wide hips and blunt bow was particularly suitable for commerce and communication between the many islands of the Adriatic as well as neighboring coasts. Already in the 19th century over 800 of them were listed in the Austro-Hungarian fleet register covering vessels of the Dalmatian and Istrian coasts. Adriatic braceras distinguish from the vessels carrying same/similar names like, for example, in the Aegean Sea. Unlike there, on the Adriatic the term refers to the entire boat, the system that consists of the hull and the rig as well, and not merely the sail.
  Today, The Dolphin Dream Society is operating Dubrovnik waters with a unique one masted bracera replica called "Our Lady of the Sea" aiming to promote Croatian maritime heritage through responsible tourism.
context_section_description: As a boat of hardworking practical people braceras often changed through history. The boat designers tended to question rig designs that proved less efficient and replace it with improved new solutions. Similar to the folk saying, only the best was regarded as truthful, indicates professor Velimir Salamon, Croatian expert on traditional boat building. Braceras could have been seen with the lateen sails, the lug or the gaff rig, the jib sails, and in spite of the opinion popular in Dalmatia in the 19th century, braceras could have two, and in some cases three masts.
caption: A single masted square sail bracera
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