The 52nd Blue Ribbon will be held from July 30 to August 1
The largest lake bypass sailing competition on Lake Balaton, the Blue Ribbon, will be held this year between July 30 and August 1. The traditional competition, organized for the 52nd time this year, would have originally been held from 4 to 6 July, but due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Hungarian Sailing Association (MVSZ) decided to postpone it until 6 May.According to MVSZ's information on Friday, the new date was reached as a result of consultations with the city of Balatonfüred, sponsors and media partners.
According to the announcement, Lajos Kollár, the president of the association, "hopes that with the gradual lifting of the official restrictive measures, the sailors will be more interested in competing". The sports leader also emphasized that he considers sailing to be completely safe from a health point of view, since the participating boats disperse on the water after the start. According to the president, it is also not impossible that after the spring without sailing, the number of participants could approach the record of 681 boats achieved at the 50th anniversary Blue Ribbon.
The association also announced on Friday that the official name of this year's competition is the 52nd Blue Ribbon Raiffeisen Grand Prix, and the competition will follow the usual Balatonfüred-Balatonkenese-Siófok-Keszthely-Balatonfüred route.
Last year, 561 boats stalled, of which 269 eventually ran in the extremely weak wind during the limit time. The race was won by the Racing Django catamaran steered by Zoltán Petrányi, which completed the distance in 15 hours and 37 minutes.
The Blue Ribbon on Lake Balaton is an international long-distance sailing competition
It is an annual sports event that goes around the lake, where results are announced in nearly thirty different boat classes among the basically touring boats. The purpose of the regulations of each free-design boat class is to compete without advantage and to ensure uniformity as much as possible. Today, the race is Europe's most prestigious, oldest, longest-running, lake-touring touring race for sailing boats with the largest number of participants. In the tour race, the sailboats have to cover a predetermined distance with buoys as quickly as possible under the given wind and weather conditions. The competition is subject to the rules and regulations applicable to water and inland waterway transport (Sailing Competition Rules, Shipping Regulations, etc.). From 2014, the Hungarian Sailing Association abolished restrictions in accordance with the intentions of the founders and entry became free for everyone. A sports doctor's certificate is mandatory.
"This year's 120-year-old Kishamis and" foils "are competing on a track with multi-hull, carbon-fiber boats"
- dr. Lajos Kollár President of the Hungarian Sailing Association (2016)
The traditional route of the speed competition announced by the Hungarian Sailing Association: Balatonfüred – Balatonkenese – Siófok – Keszthely – Balatonfüred. The distance traveled as the crow flies: 155 km. The distance must be completed within 48 hours, without the use of a motorcycle or mooring. At the signal of a cannon shot, the start is in Balatonfüred at nine o'clock in the morning, then the race continues with a long lap in the eastern basin of the lake with a buoy bypass at Balatonkenes, then also at Siófok, from there the coxswains navigate through the Tihany Strait to Keszthely, then the boats turn back and sail to Balatonfüred to the finish line, where the finish line is set for the sailors in front of the harbor in Balatonfüred.
Once the fastest sailing ship in the seas could wear the blue ribbon on its mast (the ships that crossed the Atlantic Ocean the fastest won the title of Blue Ribbon), the sport sailboats on Lake Balaton compete for the prize, sailing around Lake Balaton every year. The race traditionally starts each year on the July day closest to the full moon. This is done so that the light of the full moon helps the pilots to navigate during the night race.
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