page_title: Bracera
section_title: The single mast bracera with square sail
hierarchical_section_title: Bracera / Types of bracera / The single mast bracera with square sail
caption_attribution_description: English: A single masted sprit 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: In the beginning the braceras were presumably square or sprit rigged, considering these were amongst the oldest rigs known. Much like the Hansa kogge boat type (Croatian: koka, square sail braceras had a yard and a boom. The very sail was elevated by the yard (plus the tackle) and was kept in place by the yard halliards and the braces. With a new, small see and changing winds more adequate, type of sails gaining on popularity square sailed braceras became a rarity on the Adriatic.
caption: A single masted sprit sail bracera
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