Friday, March 21, 2014

Balatonfüred is looking forward to greeting competitors for the Hungarian Championship


Balatonfüred, the most beautiful town on Lake Balaton, Hungary, is looking forward to greeting international Dragon sailors at the end of May this year. Two adjacent local clubs, Balatonfüred Yacht Club and Hungaria Yacht Club are jointly hosting the Hungarian Dragon Championships this year, which will be taking place in the waters off Balatonfüred, with excellent views on the Tihany peninsula and the mountains on the Northern shoreline of Balaton.


This venue often proved to be the place for excellent regattas: it hosted the Laser Worlds last year and will host the Melges 24 European Championship in the early days of May. The Hungarian field of Dragons is small but enthusiastic - in the Championships usually about five international competitors complete the range of some 20 Hungarian Dragons. There will be a fierce competition for the title between the best Hungarian helmsmen: Ferenc Kis-Szölgyémi, 4th at the World Championship in Weymout last year, and Lóránd Gömbös, the current champion.



The regatta is starting on May 28th, Wednesday, with registration and technical checks. Nine races are planned, the first start is scheduled for Thursday, 14.00 hours. The regatta courses are close to the harbor: it takes not more than 20 minutes to get to the starting area. Early days of June are generally among the most windy days on Balaton, participants can rely on a Southerly thermic wind in high pressure days which results in a wonderful sailing in ‘T-shirt’ conditions in winds of 12-16 knots. In low pressure days a gusting North-Westerly wind produces ‘Dragon conditions’ with a wind varying from 15 to 25 knots.

In perfect conditions maximum 3 one-hour races on upwind-downwind courses with an upwind finish are planned. Nice ‘apres-sail’ programs with wine-tasting and and free beer are completing the daily program directly in the harbor, and Saturday evening there will be a Dragon party together with our sponsors in a close restaurant. 



The town of Balatonfüred offers excellent opportunities for Dragon-spouses to make shoppings, walk around downtown, enjoy Hungarian cuisine or just simply have fun at the lakeside with sun, water and weather. Young crewmembers will find their bars and clubs in the nightlife very soon.

If some boats arrive earlier, we are planning trainings on Monday and Tuesday before the regatta.

There are excellent accomodation possibilities within walking distance from the yacht clubs. We suggest Hotel Flamingo or Hotel Silver which can be booked here or here .

You might find some useful information on the website of Balatonfüred here.

Pls. find here the preliminary Notice of Race.







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