Blue Ribbon - Round the Lake Balaton Race the largest fleet competing (612 sailboats in 2009). During the race, the Transportation Rules of Inland Waterways apply. From 2014 the Hungarian Yachting Association has lifted the restrictions regarding multi-hull sailboats and today the race is open to everybody in the spirit of the founders. Blue Ribbon - Round the Lake Balaton Race Kékszalag or the Blue Ribbon Round the Lake Balaton Race is an international sports event held in Hungary every year between more than 30 boat classes. The regatta starts and finishes in Balatonfüred, after the 155+km circumnavigation of the Lake Balaton. By today the regatta became Europe's
Lake Balaton on Lake Balaton, including Balatonfüred and Hévíz, have long been resort centres for the Hungarian aristocracy, it was only in the late 19th century that the Hungarian middle class began to visit the lake. The construction of railways in 1861 and 1909 increased tourism substantially, but the post-war boom of the 1950s was much larger. The last major German offensive of World War II, Operation Frühlingserwachen, was conducted in the region of Lake Balaton in March 1945, being referred to as "the Lake Balaton Offensive" in many British histories of the war. The battle was a German attack by Sepp