yachts. Both are also incidentally from Versoix, a small Geneva town on the banks of Lake Geneva! “The accomplishments of Swiss sailors and Alinghi’s victory in 2003 really inspired people,” says Vaud sailor Mathieu Verrier, who has crossed the Atlantic in a 6.5-metre boat. He designed and built his sailing vessel for the 2009 Mini-Transat, a gateway race to the larger high-sea regattas. Another Swiss was involved: Geneva native Fabrice Germond, who works in the same Lausanne naval office, VMG Yacht Design, that the two founded. Mathieu Verrier sums up the status of sailing in Switzerland: “This country has people with the financial means to buy a boat; there are also plenty of lakes and getting to the water is easy,” he says. Switzerland has 20 lakes on which you can acquire your sailing licence. The champions are the residents of Vaud, who have over 15,000 registered boats. Next come Zurich (with 10,000) and Geneva (with 6,000). Mathieu Verrier owns a small catamaran, which can “The first regattas on Lake Geneva took place in the 19th century, where transport ships competed.” Bernard Schopfer, seafarer and author In 2003, the Swiss Alinghi team made history by beating title-holders New Zealand in the America’s Cup. This was the first time a European team had won the Cup. Photo: Keystone “This country has people with the financial means to buy a boat; there are also plenty of lakes and getting to the water is easy.” Mathieu Verrier, sailor and naval architect be sailed solo. He admits that he plans his life around the weather forecasts, “with a schedule dictated by the wind”. For some Swiss, lakes form the direct horizon. The country can lay claim to two of the largest lakes in western Europe: Lake Geneva and Lake Constance. People who boat on lakes are divided into two main if not opposing groups: those who sail and those with motorboats. The latter are growing in number. “A motorboat is like a car with two moorings; it has a steering wheel and burns fuel,” says Mathieu Verrier. Sailing, whose enthusiasts are gradually dwindling, requires extensive training. It is also time-consuming, admits author Bernard Schopfer, who devoted his Tuesday evenings to regattas on Lake Geneva for 30 years. He remembers returning to Geneva from Lutry on Sunday nights, by motorboat. “With a motorboat, you can head off from Lausanne to go and eat perch in Thonon, in France. With a sailing boat, you never know when you’re going to get there,” explainsVerrier. What about taking to the high seas? “The difference is that lakes have no salt,” jokes the Vaud naval architect, who nonetheless warns that a lake like Lake Geneva can be subject to violent winds. “During the most recent world-record round-theworld yacht race, the strongest winds were encountered in Brittany, towards the end, with speeds reaching 80 km/h, but we’ve had 140 km/h on the lake in the past,” he recalls. Lakes can prove dangerous, as shown by the accident that occurred on Lake Zug in June 2024, where the wreck of a sailing boat was found 80 metres down, with the body of a sailor. The craft had sunk during a regatta. In 2019, strong winds descended on the Bol d’Or, the largest freshwater Swiss Review / April 2026 / No. 2 17
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