“My parents did not see it with a very good eyehe recalls. I come from a traditional family. I was not a dunce at school. “ With his wife, Laurent Hubeaux launches himself anyway. “We lived for ten years in our van and a arbor by the lake, he admits. And, in winter, I returned to Spain to train. “
The cycling police in front of the headache of summer safety at the time water lakes
“Dog-paddle”
At the time, the Landal holiday village had not yet settled next to the nautical site. But, by dint of work (“I regularly make weeks of 70 hours”), the project holds up, year after year. “The last two years have been catastrophic; it has started better.”
The season with time water lakes starts on spring holidays, culminates in summer and ends in All Saints’ Day. The fun space consists of two parts: a sandy beach with bar, small catering, beach volleyball court, some sculptures, a library tent and concerts on Saturday evening in season. And a nautical area where Laurent Hubeaux and his team (young students or adults who work as complementary independents) offer rental equipment (small sailboat, windsurfing, paddle – with or without dogs …) as well as wingfoil windsurfs.
This sliding sport combines a windsurfing equipped with a foil and an inflatable wing. The foil, placed under the board, allows it to rise above the water. We fly on the water, literally. This discipline has experienced great success for a few years. “The King Philippe come to wing here from time to time, says Laurent Hubeaux. He has a good level. “
Here, you will see a Lasne guy with his sailboat and his collar, like a less easy Maubeuge family.
Social diversity
The Fun space welcomes a bigarry audience. “We are looking for social diversity. One day, the Unilever company comes to do a team building and the next day is the inhabitants of a closed center. Here you will see a Lasne guy with his sailboat and his collar raised, like a less easy Maubeuge family. And, at the end of the day, they attend the same concert.” It’s nice. “
To the naturist domain of Soy, the summer stretches from April to November: “But we do not dance naked, it is not done”
Among the tourists of a day or vacationers, we meet Flemish, Brussels residents and Walloons, Dutch and French, Germans and English. Cohabiting everyone is not always an easy task. Reason why it is forbidden to bring your own music and its own drinks, “Otherwise people finished drunk.” “Some monitors were shot a few weeks ago … Sometimes there are incivility. Young people who rent kayaks and who don’t bring them back in time. It’s just if I don’t take lines when I look for them.”
“Less dangerous than at sea”
“But, overall, it goes well”Positive Laurent Hubeaux, who removes a lot of satisfaction from his job. “People thank us because they have learned to make the board in an hour. On the beach, they feel on vacation. The jubists come back from year to year. And when we work with closed centers, for example, we give a lot but we receive a lot too. And, then, I love these sports.”
Between a course and the management of his equipment, Laurent Hubeaux also allows himself a small Wingfoil outing, just for fun. Finally, not only: “It’s also marketing. When people see me, they want to try.” And here is the perfect site for an initiation, he pleads. “It is the most windy place of the lakes but it is less dangerous than at the sea. Here, if we derive, we always end up on a bank!”
Find our series on the summer trades