An exciting Flexfleet classic solo Balaton Race took place on Lake Balaton. Two team members, one of whom must be under the age of 18.
Three L30’s were in the race in very tight fight all the way to the finish.
Congratulations to all teams finishing the race!
A real match race was between Happy Merida, owner Csaba Medgyesi and Tranquilo, owner Attila Bakonyi, they sail neck a neck for about 12 hours.
Here is some comments from race winner Attila Bakonyi: “In 2024, the Flexfleet solo sailing race organizers created a special TITAN division making U18 youngsters able to race in a double-handed division. I thought it was a great idea and one-off opportunity with my son, to sail around together the lake Balaton. It was an amazing experience to see how good sailor my son had become over the years. As he still competes in the Hungarian 420 fleet, he was able to help me basically in every aspect from tactics to maneuvering. It finally came out to a more than 12 hour match race, with sailing over 100 nautical miles. We have grown physically, mentally and emotionally during this great challenge but honestly beforehand I would have never thought we could make such a great team in the boat. Finally we ended up 5th out of 66 boats OVERALL, and we won the U18 TITAN category.”
Zsombor Bakonyi: “I don’t have a lot of experience in this class, but this race was quite a challenge. The boat has big forces on it in every rope and sail. It was very demanding both phisically and mentally in these windy conditions but I think we performed excellently. I felt quite comfortable and I think the reason for this was because I could do this race with my father. I am looking forward to next years race as well.”
Silver medalist in L30 TITAN U18 division, Happy Merida, boat owner Csaba Medgyesi: “Incredible, unforgettable experience of yacht racing specially for teenagers to keep them exited in our sport.
It was a medium fresh wind and tricky race and we finished the 100 miles in 12:30 hours!
The wind was steady except for one hour in Sunset and in the last 200 m! 🙂
David learned a lot from wind strategy, tacktics and big boat handling.
We are happy with our result but still have a space for improvement for next year!”
Bronze medalist in L30 U18 TITAN division, Tara, boat owner Janos Gulyas: “As a new member of the L30 owner family. My first ever race on L30. And also my first ever race with my teenage son only. Wonderful experience both! Such a great boat to sail double handed, even in a relatively long race, “circumnavigating” lake Balaton. (But with this yacht and the weather we had, it ended up being much shorter than to what I was used to). Thanks for the race organizers for the father and son concept.”
Gergo Gulyas: “Well during this race I had like a day-long adrenaline rush and since this is the fastest boat I’ve been on I was a tiny bit nervous, but in a good way.”