49th Kékszalag: When sailing-boats take over Lake Balaton – Photo Gallery

According to hvg.hu, Europe’s biggest regatta, the 49^th Kékszalag (Blue Ribbon) Erste World Grand Prix, was held last weekend at Lake Balaton. The race was full of excitement as the waves of the lake led the contestants. Farkas Litkey won the race for the 13^th time, the silver medallist entered a caveat, but it was rejected.

Farkas Litkey and Festipay crossed the finishing-line with a time of 19 hours, 5 minutes and 17 seconds at the 49^th Kékszalag Grand Prix. But the communication director of the competition announced that the flag signalling caveat was put out on the board of the silver medallist Opel Fifty-Fifty. Vilmos Náray said that the reason behind this was that Festipay might have touched one of the buoys at Balatonkenese. However, the official caveat was rejected, so Farkas Litkey became a 13-time Kékszalag winner.

The winners – Photo: MTI

The second was Márton Józsa on the board of Opel Fifty-Fifty with a time of 19 hours 23 minutes and 26 seconds, while the bronze medal was given to Roland Gäbler, who finished the race in 19 hours, 25 minutes and 39 seconds with Black Jack.

Festipay and Fifty-Fifty in the neighbourhood of Révfülöp – Photo: MTI

The field of the 49^th Kékszalag – 526 boats based on the preliminary entries – started from Balatonfüred at 9 am last Thursday. The sailing boats have to accomplish the 155 kilometre long Balatonfüred-Balatonkenese-Siófok-Tihany-Keszthely-Tihany-Balatonfüred distance without landing and asking for outer help in maximum 48 hours.

After the start – Photo: MTI

As tradition has it, single hull ships raced together with multihull high-tech ships, while professional teams raced together with hobby sailers. The 7 hours, 13 minutes and 57 seconds record set by Fifty-Fifty in 2014 was not in danger, because most race periods were characterised by light breeze.

Close to Balatonfüred – Photo: MTI

Close to Balatonfüred – Photo: MTI

The Swiss Safram – Photo: MTI

Featured image: MTI

Source: http://hvg.hu/