Overall the First Day … The opening of the 57th Kékszalag Raiffeisen Grand Prix on Thursday brought a historic day: in challenging winds, sometimes exceeding 30 knots, not only was the absolute time record of the legendary lake-going race broken, but the entire podium field finished within the previous record. The victory was achieved for the sixth time on the MLS Raiffeisen Fifty-Fifty catamaran, steered by Márton Józsa, with an amazing time of 4 hours and 24 minutes. In the dramatic fight, the record for monohulls also became a thing of the past, while a significant part of the field is still fighting the elements on the water. The competition does not stop, the fight is in full swing.
This year’s Blue Ribbon will be remembered for its extraordinary circumstances. After the 9 a.m. start, the two most promising catamarans, the MLS Raiffeisen Fifty-Fifty and the RSM, immediately took the lead. In gusty winds exceeding thirty knots, they raced at tremendous speed towards Balatonkenese, where the Fifty-Fifty was the first to take its buoy. The Hungarian-designed and built two-masted catamaran finally won the start-finish, passing all course marks first, and crossed the finish line in Balatonfüred in 4 hours and 24 minutes, improving its own record set in 2023 by more than 40 minutes.
Márton Józsa, the helmsman of the MLS Raiffeisen Fifty-Fifty, set a new time record with a safety-oriented approach to the 57th Blue Ribbon. According to him, the boat still has reserves, and the current time result can be improved even in less stormy conditions.
The fantastic speed and excitement of the race is proven by the fact that both the second and third place finishers completed the distance within the previous record of 5 hours and 3 minutes. Sailing Team RSM came in second, just 9 minutes behind (4 hours and 33 minutes), steered by Róbert Vándor.
The third step of the podium was taken by Kürt-Team Kaáli, steered by Flóra Virág, with a time of 4 hours and 46 minutes, proving that the most professional teams are capable of outstanding performance even in the toughest conditions.
New high for singles too! The other big sensation of the day was the Yardstick Open sailing yacht Samurai Jack. The boat completed the Blue Ribbon in 8 hours and 40 minutes, breaking the 8 hours and 59 minutes monohull record set by Principessa in 2023.
Where there is victory, there is drama! However, the extraordinary wind posed serious challenges for a significant part of the field. Several catamarans capsized in the first hours of the race, and throughout the day there were continuous reports of technical problems, mast and sail breakages.
By Thursday evening, nearly fifty boats had given up the fight. Even big names such as the thirteen-time winner Litkey Farkas (Process Solutions) and his team, or Audax Django led by Zoltán Petrányi, were forced to give up the race.The story of the boat Sponsi was particularly dramatic. The members of the teams of Raffica and René Raffica, which were damaged in Monday’s storm, teamed up and set off on a boat that had been made competitive in three days, with the damaged mast of the Raffica. However, the mast could not withstand the load in the Balatonkenese Bay and broke, so their heroic struggle ended.
The Blue Ribbon is still going strong! While the top team is taking a well-deserved break, the majority of the Blue Ribbon field – more than 400 boats at the time of publication – is still on the water, continuing to fight to complete the Balaton roundabout course. There is huge competition among the classic boats and in the various boat classes. The events continue day and night, and the official Blue Ribbon time limit is 48 hours, meaning it can be completed until 9 a.m. on Saturday.
The competition is also being broadcast continuously, with a continuous live video broadcast provided by Magyar Telekom and minute-by-minute coverage updated day and night on kekszalag.hu . Another useful source of information is the GPS tracking , developed and operated by the Széchényi István University team in Győr, which allows the current position, speed and route of each Blue Ribbon boat to be tracked in real time. The tracking is available on track.hunsail.hu.
57th Blue Ribbon Sailing Competition Around Lake Balaton … update by Aggie Reiter
Rolling in Budapest 