Sail like a Duke or a Count on Lake Geneva.

Between the 13th and 17th century, galley ships sailed around Lake Geneva. These beautiful boats owned by the Dukes and Counts of the time, glided through the water and were used to protect the land and lake. Today you don’t have to be a member of the aristocracy to step on board one of these ships as one of them, La Liberté has been lovingly recreated as a galley ship of the past and passengers can sail on it during the summer from its home in Morges.

Help for the unemployed

The building of La Liberté was part of an enterprising project thought up by Jean-Pierre Hirt, a local union boss in Morges. Back in 1995 there was a high level of unemployment in the Morges area, and for those who were coming to the end of their unemployment entitlement with no job in site, prospects were not good. So Mr Hirt came up with the idea of creating a replica of a galley ship and then offering the unemployed a chance to help build a new ship based on original designs. The project went ahead, it took aprroximately six years to build, and between 1995-2001 over 650 unemployed worked on the ship and helped to create La Liberté which now at 55 metres in length, is the largest sailing galley on European lakes.

Wine tasting trips, Sunset trips, Cruising to watch the August 1st Fireworks Captain Ralph Tittel and his crew now take passengers every weekend for two and a half hour trips on the lake. During the year when the boat is on the water special events are also organized.

The Captain ( who speaks perfect English) talking to a crew member on board.

One of the cruises is a wine tasting trip; on board a wine expert offers passengers a taste of different wines from the Lavaux vineyards that cling to the lake side. This is perfectly timed so the boat will be sail past the appropriate vineyard as the wine is being tasted. This trip was very popular this year and is scheduled on the agenda for 2010. The ship also takes private groups of up to 120 passengers for different events such as birthday celebrations or company trips. In June a special “pirates” day was organised for the public with families and children being offered the chance to hoist a flag and swashbuckle and sail à la Johnny Depp. In September the boat will go into dry dock for maintenance (the boat normally continues sailing through to October) but it will be back again next year and the team have other exciting plans for the future. Before this though, there is still chance to sail on it over the summer months. A special trip is planned to watch the 14th July French Fireworks over in Evian and also to watch the Swiss National day fireworks on August 1st (the boat leaves that day from the eastern end of the lake near Montreux/Bouveret details to be confirmed). Or you can just go for a weekend sail on your own or with a group leaving from Morges. Food can be provided for groups (by pre reserving) or there are sausages cooked on board for individual passengers. The website is called La Galere check it out for further details.

Saturday sunset cruises begin at 19:30 and finish at 21:45 Sunday cruises leave at 12:30 and finish at 14:45.

On board with Morges in the background

Happy Sailing!

A birthday party on board.