2024-07-19 14:38:23
The Kékszalag, a traditional Balaton sailing race, organized for ninety years since 1934, started on Thursday for the fifty-sixth time, to find out which sailboat, leaving Balatonfüred, could be the first which covers a larger area. than a hundred and fifty as the crow flies, but in reality, of course, a longer distance.
Fifty-fifty, winner in 2022 and 2023, was considered the main contender for this year’s 510-boat competition, which finished last year with a record time of 5 hours 3 minutes 56 seconds. This year, due to the wind conditions, there was no chance of to beat that.
Before the start of the boats at 9:00 in the morning of the boats that touch Balatonkenes, Siófok, Tihany Strait, and then turn at Keszthely, it was clear that most of them – including the catamaran HUN3 Team Suzuki, are competing for the first five places. in advance – he will start the race from the north coast, hoping for better winds and a more favorable direction.
After the start, Solution Process, RSM and Team Kaáli were the best, and Team Suzuki Marton Józsa and his defending team, Fifty Fifty Fifty and Audax Django battled for fourth and fifth place. A quarter of an hour after the start, the technical competition for first place began, and this continued in the following hours, and Prospex came up unexpectedly: the team crossed the Hungarian sea in third place at Balatonkenes and first at Siófok, actually two. and a minute and a half to bring together an advantage.
Here, it was already clear to everyone that breaking the record was an impossible task, since, unlike last year’s 36 minutes, this year it took almost twice as long for the leading group to reach the track mark in Kenya – Team Suzuki is in 6th place. where at 1:28:56, more than this achieved twenty minutes after RSM – and in front of Siófok was almost completely calm, so the lion’s share of the field came immobilized in front of Balatonkenese.
András Kollmann / Team Suzuki
Arriving at the height of Siófok, RSM, Process and Prospex increased their advantage to a long kilometer, and seeing the partial result of last year’s winner, it seemed that, despite the reduction of weight last year, this did not improve the speed in the light . wind, so in 10th place, almost 65 minutes behind sailed behind. Meanwhile, Team Suzuki got wings and crossed the gate in 4th place (3:22:52) behind the front, a safe distance ahead of Nanushka Forestay in 5th place.
This position was only stable for a short time, as the wind weakened again at Zánka, so the experience of the teams was also essential to continue. The Suzuki team, competing with the AC45 catamaran, continued to take fourth place, and when they reached the Szigliget harbor, several catamarans ran towards the Keszthely mark on one leg.
The RSM, Prospex and Process approach was then impossible, a Gábor Buki managed by Team Suzuki several times in a battle with Nanushka Forestay, who jumped to fourth place in the seventh hour of the race, after 3:00 pm, but by the next hour, the previous situation was Back.
András Kollmann / Team Suzuki
Meanwhile, apparently, no one paid attention to the Fifty Fifty, even though it was getting closer to the Suzuki team, who died in fourth place (8:11:06), which was once the clocks collected by this time at the Keszthely mark. missing from Process, who was at the bottom of the imaginary podium (7:09:15).
Many of the boats are commentators for Suzuki’s live coverage, András Kollmann He got stuck in front of Tihanyi Strait, which is always a crucial point – which always recreates the wind conditions – and the wind forecast did not promise much, so luck played a big role in addition to the knowledge of the teams: before this. 5 pm, the owner of the Nanushka was only three hundred meters ahead, dr. Christian Luke according to Team Suzuki, who practice together 2-3 days a week throughout the year. This distance sometimes increased, and sometimes it decreased so much that they were almost side by side towards the goal.
Prospex-Delta led the front line returning along the north coast for a short time, but after Szigliget he slowed down along with RSM, thus the thirteen-time winner Wolf Litkey his team, Process, was in the lead.
The 35-foot Nanushka, which can start quickly, and the Suzuki Team, which is made up of experienced track racers, are much larger, 45 feet, and therefore capable of a higher constant speed in the race. Zsolt Buki a ship, redesigned by
András Kollmann / Team Suzuki
About this long competition Gábor Buki he told 24.hu that the direction and strength of the wind changed every five meters, and it is clear that the lighter and smaller competitor was able to react to them faster and was more agile, since they had to a smaller sea of ropes to keep moving. .
Meanwhile, none of them could keep up with Fifty Fifty, who in the meantime worked off the almost two-hour deficit at a great pace, jumping in front of them at about 8:30 in the evening, and then immediately. he began to search for the lead.
After eight hours, much of the field was struggling with the tube in Tihany, but the pace of the best continued to increase, so the catamarans got further and further away from the smaller boats . Shortly before 9:30, Fifty Fifty had to face a 2.5-kilometer deficit, but when he saw his speed ten kilometers per hour higher than those in front, it did not seem to be a miracle out of the question.
András Kollmann / Team Suzuki
And so it happened, because before nine o’clock in the evening, the defending champion was only one hundred meters from third place, and victory was even within reach, since the leader Prospex was only 900 meters ahead on them. According to the official broadcast, by this time the Kékszalag had almost turned into a track race, as there was a deficit of 500 meters in front of the Fifty Fifty with a kilometer and a half before the finish line, and only 200 meters after one kilometer . The miracle finally happened: the disadvantage disappeared, and Fifty finally won by a full fifty seconds, winning for the third time in a row – the fifth time in total. This has not been the case since 1955.
Büki explained the success of the three winners to the long experience of the teams, reconstructions to facilitate the crowd, and the lengthening of their boats.
In the end, Team Suzuki stayed ahead of Nanushka, but the defending champion and AUDAX Django, who arrived at breakneck speed, eventually overtook them, finishing the race in sixth place with a time of 12:45: 03.
Suzuki’s marketing manager, András Varga, assessed the result as follows:
We watched the race, which was trying in almost every sense, which the boys finished with continuous work and skillful maneuvers through the screens and live broadcast. In a fierce fight and a dramatic race, the team finished in 6th place, something we can be very proud of. It shows the determination of the boys that they started preparing for the next Blue Ribbon after the competition at the dinner. We support them as much as possible, since Team Suzuki represents the connection of technology, human performance and an active, dynamic brand image.
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