Zadar Water Sports

Zadar rents its water sports off the beach rather than from a marina. The operators sit on the shore north west of the Old Town, along the run of bays through Borik, Puntamika and Diklo, and hire by the hour or the half day to people already swimming there. Paddleboards and sea kayaks are the staples, and the sheltered water inside the archipelago suits both: the islands break the open Adriatic swell, so the channel in front of the city stays flat on most summer mornings.

The newer end of the trade is powered. Electric hydrofoil boards, jet skis and towed inflatables all appear along this shore now, and they need more space and more instruction than a paddleboard does, which is why they tend to launch from the wider bays rather than the town beaches.

Two practical points. The bura, the dry north easterly off the Velebit, flattens this whole trade when it blows, so hire is a fair-weather activity even in July. And morning water is almost always calmer than afternoon water here, which is worth knowing if you are learning rather than showing off.