Wojciech Spisak won again…

The Polish crew “Volkswagen Leasing”, skippered by Wojciech Spisak, won 1st place in the Yardstick II class during the 49th edition of the Blue Ribbon of Balaton regatta. They defeated 87 crews in their class. The team was racing at the forefront of the fleet the entire regatta. The regatta took place at Lake Balaton from 6 to 8 July.

The crew of Volkswagen Leasing took part in the largest inland sailing event in Europe on their Saturn 23 yacht. The Kekszalag regatta is a race around Lake Balaton and is an extremely difficult race, which usually involves continuous focus on wind shifts and navigation all day. Teams less experienced find it hard to reach the finish line within the time limit of 35 hours. During the race the weather can change by 180 degrees, which makes good teamwork extremely important. It was similar this time.

“On day time our crew experienced the so-called “oven”, i.e. a total lack of wind and temperatures of up to 40 degrees. At night and in the morning, we experienced the opposite: a storm and the waves were real high, literally like mountains. The wind was building up to a number 7 on the Beaufort scale” says Wojciech Spisak, captain of the crew, which also included Rafał Dziurzyński and guest Zawisza Opioła.

The crew of “Volkswagen Leasing” started the regatta from start at the top of the racing fleet of 550 crews. The race was difficult and the weather was constantly playing tricks. In the hot heat, the wind turned back to zero, and the real racing took place only in the evening, when good conditions for sailing under the gennaker finally appeared. The situation changed dramatically the next morning, when in the company of huge clouds the force of the wind intensified enough to cause a regular storm. All these factors caused that after a huge effort and 25 hours and 22 minutes of fighting, the crew crossed the finish line first in their class..

source: www.jachting.com