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A fleet of 95 yachts and almost a thousand competitors took part in this year's Diplomat's Regatta, which was held off the coast of Izola. Despite the success of last year's regatta, disputes between the two organizers meant that the second regatta came perilously close to being a non-event. Fortunately the hatchet was buried and the regatta was bigger and better than before. This year's winner was the Irish ambassador to Slovenia, Gary Ansbro aboard Esimit Evropa. The 'luck of the Irish' probably played a major role in the result as a lottery determined which boat the 'diplomats' were assigned to. Another boat race, the "Celebrity Regatta", which was conducted in traditional "walnut shells", took place in Bled. This year's event saw the largest media turnout to date and they were divided into 7 categories: - print media, radio, TV, film, music, marketing and advertising. The regatta, which was organized by Vikend Magazin - a supplement of the leading daily newspaper Delo, attracted no less than 120 teams of four rowers and, of course, their supporters. The eventual winner was the BeBe agency. The regatta concluded with the awarding of 'Popularity Gongs' to the most popular media personalities chosen by Vikend Magazin. This year the gongs went to Joze Mozina from TV Slovenia (TV information programme), the host of Slovenia's version of Who wants to be a Millionaire - Bostjan Romih from POP TV (TV entertainment) and Jure Sesek picked up the gong for most popular radio personality for the fifth time. Both regattas are more about socializing among people who work and even compete in a similar field rather than about the competition itself, which makes the importance of the regattas even greater. (J.T.)