Summer rhymes with swimming in the lakes, but cohabitation between swimmers and boats can be risky. On the lakes of Neuchâtel, Bienne and Morat, the navigation company is launching a reminder of the safety rules to prevent accidents.
“Sometimes we just see a head coming out of the water a few hundred meters before arriving at the station, and that creates big doses of adrenaline on us,” says Michel Gaudard, captain at the LNM, a navigation company on the lakes of Neuchâtel, Bienne and Morat. Before recalling that to “stop a boat of this tonnage there, it still takes several tens, even hundreds of meters.”
Since 2007, it has been forbidden to bathe less than 100 meters from a landingll. An unknown and poorly respected rule for years.
“The current problem is that now swimmers have also gotten into the habit of jumping in front of the boat,” worries Michel Gaudard. “The propellers of the dawn wheels create upholstery that can represent a danger for swimmers, because they risk being swept away against the pillars of the landing gossip, for example.”
Quid of the paddles or pedals
Another source of concern: paddles, boats or pedalos on their trajectory, especially when accosing.
In Neuchâtel, the pedalos share the same port as the navigation fleet. The Marine Manager Services Watch over the grain to explain the safety rules for each rental: never be on the way to a navigation boat.
“Often weekends, with a rescue boat, we get out of supervision offshore, and we recall a little bit of everyone to order,” explains Hobby Mathluthi. “We equipped ourselves with a drone to really ensure that security takes precedence.”
Whatever its activity, to guarantee its safety, you always have to keep your distance, give priority to regular service boats and make yourself visible so that the lake remains a space of freedom and shared pleasure.
Léa Jelmini/FGN
