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CGN staff have additional safety work trying to discourage teenagers from playing around the big boats and to educate the public about the dangers of coming close to them or swimming in their docking areas

Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - The paddlewheelers of the CGN boat company that offer tourists and residents pleasure cruises around the lake have been playing an additional role in recent days, that of rescuer.

Storms and high winds on Lake Geneva have caught sailors and others by surprise, and Saturday 17 July one of the large craft intervened for the third time since the summer season opened in mid-June, during 15 dramatic moments.

A small boat 300 metres out from Cully began to sink and the two men on board were desperately trying to bail out the water and to fight strong, gusting winds when the Général-Guisan paddlewheeler spotted them. It turned, slowed down and gently came alongside, offering to take them on board.

They decided to continue trying to save their boat and the larger CGN craft alerted lake emergency services, then waited nearby to ensure the men could be rescued if their boat sank. When it did the two men climbed onto the boat to await the Cully rescuers, who arrived within five minutes.

Monday 12 July one of the CGN boats rescued stranded pedalo users, caught unexpectedly by a storm in Ouchy, Lausanne.

The CGN boats are not part of the overall lake rescue system, but work closely with lake emergency teams. They are not easily able to move close to smaller craft for safety reasons: the wash they can provoke and the danger of people getting too near the blades, for example.

The CGN recently issued a warning that adolescent in several communities in France and Switzerland were playing a potentially lethal game, climbing on the large boats to dive off them, apparently unaware that several serious accidents have occurred this way: in Bellevue, Corsier, Hermance, Amphion, Chens-sur-Léman and Margencel.