Single-handed Yacht Race Around the Lake Balaton

MOL Grand Prix – Race Rules

1,   The Race 

1/a.  The MOL Grand Prix is a single-handed Sailing Yacht Race with the purpose of creating an opportunity for the national and foreign yachtsmen/yachtswomen of measuring their strength as far as their human persistence, their technical and tactical knowledge of sailing are concerned.

1/b.  This event is a real time race. Final ranking is based on the actual order of boats crossing finish line.

1/c. The Race must be completed single-handed without substitution, without stopping and without assistance.

2.  Organizer

Fa Hajó Ltd.  ( 8000  Székesfehérvár,  Szent  Flórián  Krt.  6.,  Hungary,

Tel.: + 36 22 511 480

Fax: + 36 22 511 484

Represented by Mr. Nándor Fa

Cell phone number: +36 70 319 8339

In co-operation with:

Kereked Sailing Club of Csopak

BYC (Balatonfüredi Yacht Club) of Balatonfüred.

3.  Course

The longest possible course around the Lake Balaton, of which the organisers provide exact information by the given map, as part of the Race Rules. Any further changes of the course and displacement of the marks will be announced by the race director at the skipper’s briefing before the start of the race.

4.  Conformity

The Race is organised in compliance with all shipping and safety rules that apply on Lake Balaton. Regulations of RRS 2017-2020 International Race Rules must be accepted during the entire Race.

5.  Timings

Start of the Race: 10.00 am Saturday (07. October 2017) 

Limit to finish the course: until 10.00 am Monday (09. October 2017)

Official timing of the race is based on:

time provided by Telekom (phone number 180).

The start line will be announced on the official skippers’ briefing before the start.  Skippers briefing: 07.00 am Saturday (07. October 2017) in the BYC sailing club.

Participation in the briefing by skippers is mandatory! Absence from the official race briefing entails disqualification from the race.

6,   Entrant

6/a. The entrant consists of the registered yacht – which meets all the specifications of Race Rule 9 – together with its skipper.

6/b. Number of entries can be up to 40. Entries will be recorded on a “first come, first served” basis, except for foreign entrants — who will be invited by the organiser as far as they meet the requirements.

6/c. An entrant appears on the final list after the Yacht and its Skipper have been accepted, meet all of the laid down Rules, and after the entry fee has been paid.

6/d. The Organising Committee reserves the right to invite anybody to the Race (in accordance with the relevant requirements) and to refuse the entry of anybody.

7.  Entry

Entry fee: 50.000.- HUF / entrant

In case of refusal of an entry, the fee will be payed back.

In case of cancellation or abandonment of the race, the fee will not be payed back.

Online Registration to the Race at: official website: https://szolovitorlazas.hu/mol-2017-grandprix-entry-form/

Deadline: 20th Sept. 2017

Registration via post: to the address of the Race Organizer

Fa Hajó Ltd.

8000 Székesfehérvár

Szent Flórián krt.6.

Registration via e-mail: trade@fahajo.hu

Contacts:

Nándor Fa, Mob.: +36 70 319 8339

E-mail: nandor@fahajo.hu

Anna Fa, Mob.: +36703198334

Deadline for Registration: 20. September 2017.

Anyone who’s reached the age of 16 is entitled to register in the race, if possesses the required documents and permissions.

8.  TBS Grand Prix

Prizes:

Total amount of the prizes: HUF 1.000.000.-

Place winner (1st):  HUF 500.000.-

Place second (2nd): HUF 250.000.-

Place third (3rd):     HUF 100.000.-

Place fourth (4th):   HUF   50.000.-

Place fifth (5th):      HUF   50.000.-

Place sixth (6th):     HUF   50.000.-

The winner has the challenge cup – into which his/her name and the name of his/her yacht will be engraved –, and will carry the cup for one year until the next Grand Prix starts.

Further Prizes:

In case at least 5 or more yachts of the same monohull class (not bigger than 8m) compete in the race — and this class is an officially accepted boat class in Hungary — the race organisation will treat these entrants as a separate class within the race, but will included them in the overall race results as well.

9.  The Yacht

The Race is open to “8 metre open class” monohull yachts.

Total length of the yacht is 8 metres (26,25 feet).

Exterior rudders and bowsprit are not included in the total length.

The total length of appendages (fore and aft) must not extend the overall length by more than 20% of the length of the yacht (i.e. max. 1,6 metres). Overall length including the previously mentioned appendages must not be longer than 9,6 metres.

Materials and sizes of the rigging and sails are undetermined. Nevertheless, solid wing sails are not allowed.

The ballast-system or the type of keel on the yacht is undetermined.

Material of the yacht is undetermined.

Stays, backstays, runners, permanent and temporary shrouds must only be attached to the interior of the main deck.

The yacht must be self-righting from 110° (the mast from 20° under the horizontal line). Upon the organiser’s request, this ability of the boat has to be proven by the design, calculations or has to perform a physical test.

In case the yacht has a lifting keel system, the test has to be performed with lifted up keel, or the keel has to be fixed at the lowest position during the whole time of the Race.

Water ballast are allowed if they are fixed, located inside the hull and part of the structure of the boat. In case the yacht has a water ballast system, during the self-righting test it has to be filled up on the high side.

In case of tilting keel system, during the test the keel has to be tilted to the high side.

No ballast of any kind (Trapezing or hiking) is allowed outside of the lifelines.

We accept the yacht as monohull, in case the dip of its hull – in rest position – increases (in all of its segments) toward the centre line.

In case the yacht has a built-in or an external engine, the Organising Committee locks it before the race. In case the lock is damaged during the Race, the yachtsman/yachtswomen disqualifies himself/herself from the competition.

The yacht has to have the official documents of its national registration.

The maximum drought of the yacht is 2m.

10.  No kind of propulsion allowed except the power of wind.

The bottom of the boat can only be treated with natural or antifouling paint. Coating that affects flow or wet surface area is prohibited!

11.  Numbering and sail marking

The Race number of the yacht has to be indicated on the main sail and on both sides of the hull in a visible and unmistakable way.

12.   Inspection

In order to make sure that all yachts comply the Race Rules, the Organising Committee performs an inspection on the day before the race:

16.00 – 20.00 on Friday (6th October 2017)

All entered yachts must be berthed in the BYC of Balatonfüred from 10.00 am on the day of inspection, in a ready-to start condition.

After the control, the yachts can leave the harbour only for the purpose of training.

13.   Sponsoring

13/a. Entries may be sponsored and/or financed by any individual, group or organisation (commercial or other), which can be reflected in the name of the yacht and may be displayed upon the yacht and/or sails during the Race, IF it does not confuse, conflict and/or interfere with the yacht’s official Race number or the official Race logo.

The Organising Committee does not permit representation of any kind of tobacco brand on the yacht.

The Organising Committee reserves the right to refuse any yacht name or sponsor representation in case they are incongruous with the spirit of the Race.

13/b. The Organising Committee requires the yachtsmen/yachtswomen to place the official logo of the Race onto the upper third on both sides of the main sail (100 x 100 cm), and both sides of the hull (50 x 50 cm).

14.  Communication

The yachtsmen/yachtswomen are obliged to have a mobile phone onboard during the race, which is water-resistant or has a water-resistant cover that works reliably – with charger if necessary – for at least three days.

Continuous accessibility of the yachtsmen/yachtswomen during the race is required for safety reasons, and for the possibility to keep in touch with the media.

15.  External Help

The yachtsmen/yachtswomen – during the whole time of the Race – are not allowed to accept any external physical or informational help, they are not allowed to touch land or to step onto the deck of an other vessel. The contravention of this Rule means disqualification from Race or abandonment of the Race.

16.  Security

The Organising Committee does its best to take the expectable prohibitive measures. It ensures enough and adequate motor-driven salvage boats with properly qualified staff. At the same time it points out to the yachtsmen/yachtswomen that the task of the staff of the salvage boat is just to ensure the safeness of the participants and to save them if necessary.

The yachts are required to have a life-ring (which meets the relevant requirements) fixed onto the stern part of the cockpit by at least 8 mm thick, 30 m long floating line.

The yachtsmen/yachtswomen are obliged to wear life jacket without any additional warnings in case the wind-force is more than 4B, between sunset to sunrise, and in case of low visibility. The missing of it is a reason for disqualification!

In case the participant misses to activate all the required lights of the yacht from sunset until sunrise for more than 30 minutes, this will automatically mean that the participant retires from the race.

All yachts must have an anchor that weighs at least 8 kg, with a 12 mm rope at least 20 metres long, assembled and ready for use. (collapsible anchor is NOT allowed!)

The yachtsmen/yachtswomen are obliged to save the other participants’ life until it does not endanger their own safety.

Nevertheless every participant sails on his/her own risk!

All yachts are provided with a tracker beacon by the race organisers, which is handed over to the participant at the skipper’s briefing. Participants are obliged to give back these beacons as soon as possible after finishing the race, latest at the Prize-giving Ceremony.

17.  Liability

Every participant is required to have liability insurance, which offers coverage of minimum HUF 3 Million in case of a caused damage.

18.   Prize Giving Ceremony

Information about the date and place of the Ceremony is declared at the skipper’s briefing before the start of the race.

19.   Authority

The decisions of the Organising Committee are definitive.

The Organiser reserves the right to change the conditions at any time, basically with the purpose to improve security and to ensure technical development.

Participants completing the race in 1st-6th positions are obliged to declare to have completed the race in compliance with all the race rules with their written signatures, upon request from the Race Organiser. Denial of the previously stated action means disqualification from the race.

The present Race Rules are the copyright of Fa Hajó Ltd., and may not be published or copied electronically or in print, in whole or in part, without the written permission of Fa Hajó Ltd. The official logo of the Race is registered mark.

The official internet site of the Race: www.szolovitorlazas.hu