Blue Ribbon 2024: important information about this year’s competition

The most prominent celebration of Lake Balaton and sailing, Europe’s largest sailing race around the lake, the 56th Kékszalag, will start from Balatonfüred on July 18, 2024, at 9 a.m.

The Blue Ribbon is an experience of a lifetime for those who start the competition, and a huge spectacle for those who only watch and cheer from the shore. The 160 km sailing race is a real adventure for everyone.

Why Blue?

Once upon a time, the fastest sailboat on the seas could wear the blue ribbon on its mast, and this tradition was later adopted by steamboats as well. With the spread of sailing sports, competitions were also established on European lakes, the winner of which could tie a ribbon symbolizing the recognition of being the fastest to the top of the mast.

In 1934, the Hungária Yacht Club, which first organized the competition, transferred this custom to Lake Balaton, and since then, the Blue Ribbon has been won by the ship that sails the fastest around Lake Balaton. The name of the competition has become a concept over time: today it is written as one, and it is organized annually by the Hungarian Sailing Association under the name Kékszalag.

The race distance

The distance of the Blue Ribbon competition is about 160 kilometers as the crow flies. Of course, sailboats do not cover the distance in a straight line: they navigate in such a way as to reach their destination in the shortest possible time. The start and finish lines are marked in front of the harbor in Balatonfüred. The first track sign is located in the northeast direction, before Balatonkenese. Leaving this, the ships head towards Siófok, the largest settlement on the south coast. From there, sailing through the Tihanyi Strait, Keszthely is the next stop at the southwestern tip of Balaton, from where they sail northeast again, that is, they sail back along the length of Balaton to reach their destination in Balatonfüred.

The history of the Blue Ribbon

The competition was first announced in 1934 by the Hungária Yacht Club in Balatonfüred. The essence of their idea was that the Blue Ribbon of Balaton could be won by any sailboat that sails around the lake the fastest in the posted distance, according to the direction of the clock.

Until 1942, the competition took place every two years, then a few years were missed due to the war, and the tradition was revived in 1947. The competition became more and more popular, and in 1955 the Nemere II. 75 cruiser named completed the distance in 10 hours and 40 minutes. This fantastic record was broken only 57 years later, in 2012, by a catamaran made of high-tech materials. Since 2001, the race has been organized annually, and it has become Europe’s largest lake-circling race, in which six hundred or more boats start.

Records, ships, helmsmen

The winner of the first Blue Ribbon in 1934 was the Rabonbán 30 cruiser, which reached the finish line first among 21 ships. Its governor, Gábor Ugron, as president of the Hungarian Sailing Yacht Association, also supported the creation of the competition.

The race was won twice by a female helmsman: in 1940 and 1942, Istvánné Kultsár Gordon Evelyn steered the Tramontana 8R yacht to victory.

Today, in his memory, the best female unit in each Blue Ribbon receives the Gordon Evelyn Traveling Award. By the way, “Trami” is still the most successful ship in the history of the Blue Ribbon: it has won a total of seven times. The beautifully restored sailboat last won in 1989.

The prize for the slowest winner could have been awarded in 1953, when the wind was so weak that the Nemere II. Cruiser 75 reached the finish line in 40 hours. The same boat also set the legendary record: in 1955, it circled Lake Balaton in 10 hours and 40 minutes.

He broke the record in 2012 with his high-tech, two-mast catamaran made of carbon called Fifty-fity, which set another, quite incredible record in 2023, with a time of 5 hours 3 minutes 56 seconds.

Tradition and renewal

The Blue Ribbon is Balaton’s most traditional sailing race, which has been continuously renewed during its more than eighty years of existence. It is a tradition, for example, that the competition always takes place on the July weekend closest to the full moon. For a long time, the start was on Friday morning, but lately it has been moved to Thursday, but the time remains the same: nine o’clock in the morning.

At first there was no time limit, but later a forty-eight hour limit was introduced. Therefore, anyone who does not reach the finish line by nine on Saturday morning has struggled in vain.

Over the years, the range of ships that were allowed to sail has also changed continuously. In 1934, any sailing boat could compete.

Later, jollés (fast, light, single-hull ships with fins) were excluded from this circle, and then smaller capital-weight sailboats (such as starships) met this fate. The last fifteen years have been about the “admission” of multihull ships, and it is possible that in the next ten years ships using underwater wings will be at the center of the debate.

The challenge

For a sailor from Balaton, the Blue Ribbon is a challenge from several points of view. Most of the starters will find themselves on the water in competition on the second day as well, which is a serious physical and psychological strain. Night sailing requires special skills that are not required in other races.

Those for whom – even though they sail a lot – the competition conditions are a test at the Blue Ribbon.

On a lake as big as Balaton, very different weather and wind conditions can occur in forty-eight hours: storms, calm winds, rain, clouds of mosquitoes and pitch-black nights make the race difficult.

Therefore, no matter what results a team achieves, completing the Blue Ribbon and running to the finish line within forty-eight hours is a serious sporting achievement.

Opening image: Szigliget, July 7, 2023.
The field of the 55th Blue Ribbon Raiffeisen Grand Prix sailing race near Szigliget on July 6, 2023.
Photo: MTI/György Varga