Safram romps home to win the Kekszalag race on Lake Balaton
by Safram Sailing 28 Jul 2018 23:51 NZST
Kekszalag race on Lake Balaton © djiarsbudapest / MVSz
The Swiss catamaran, Safram, helmed by Christophe Peclard and skippered by Rodolphe Gautier, won the 50th edition of the Kekszalag on Lake Balaton on Thursday after over 12 hours of racing against a 661-strong fleet, finishing 20 minutes ahead of closest rivals, PreVital Decision 35 in second and Opel Fifty-Fifty in third.
The fleet attracted every type of multihull, ranging from 28 to 45 feet, but the Ventilo M1 held its own against the D35 and the AC45 and other wing-masted catamarans!
Safram has a good record on Lake Balaton, they won the race in 2015 and finished fifth last year. This year they got a good start and sailed at the front of the fleet for the entire race. The team was neck and neck with the Decision 35 until the exit of the channel on the way out but managed to get into the breeze earlier and led the race from then on. By the midway mark at 1630, the team had put 20 minutes on the D35 and they crossed the finish line at 2140, tired but happy!
The crew will stay in Hungary for the weekend to enjoy the spectacular prize giving on Saturday night hosted at the heart of the village.
After that they will reflect on what comes next, with a fifth at the Bol d'Or Mirabaud and a first yesterday, they have had a good season so far.
Rodolphe Gautier (skipper): "What a pleasure to win here again! We had a tricky race last year suffering gennaker damage, but this year we raced well, it's quite an achievement to finish ahead of boats that are so much bigger than us. It's an excellent win for the team, we have a beautiful boat and fantastic camaraderie on board. Objective achieved!"
Christophe Peclard (helmsman): "We had very good speed compared to our competitors and managed to reach the northerly at the exit of the channel ahead of our rivals. We were doing 18 knots and it was fantastic – we got our own back after last year, which is very satisfying."
Fabien Froesch (bowman): "We were quite nervous before the start, facing a very strong fleet for the 50th edition of the race. It was quite testing on board during the day, we hit the bottom of the lake a few times, but we managed to control our competitors from the start to the finish and that was all down to good crew work. We're very happy with this victory, it was a great race."
2018 Kékszalag Results: (top three)
1. Safram 21:40:31
2. PreVital 22:01:40
3. Opel Fifty-Fifty 22:27:18