Large Lake Geneva pleasure boat rescues windsurfer

'Lausanne' (c) cgn

A pleasure boat on Lake Geneva turned life saver as it diverted course to pick up an exhausted wind surfer.

The large boat, ‘Lausanne’ had just left the port at Vevey and was heading for Montreux on Saturday evening. Much to the confusion of the passengers, enjoying a meal on board, it turned away from its planned destination and headed out to the centre of the lake.

The reason was soon clear as staff moved to retrieve a man who had fallen off his board and was unable to get back on. 

It’s highly unusual for one of the large pleasure boats to be involved in a rescue. The operation took around an hour and the windsurfer was taken to Montreux where he was treated for exhaustion. 

But he was not the only one needing help over the weekend. Vaud police say another windsurfer had to be picked up, two sailing boats needed to be brought back to shore by rescuers and children on a rubber dinghy were blown out to the middle of the lake and had to be retrieved. 

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