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These belong to an age-old tradition dating back to Gallo-Roman times. In ancient Lousonna there was a corporation of "Nautae" based at Vidy on the shores of Lake Geneva. It survived into the Middle Ages as a "fraternity" of sailors of the Rives d'Osches, and nearer our own times, in the Bernese period, as a "Company of Navigators" registered at Ouchy. The Société Vaudoise de Navigation (Vaud Sailing Society) was founded in 1846, followed by the Société de Sauvetage (Life-saving Society) in 1885, the Cercle de la Voile (Yacht Club) in 1919 and the Union Nautique Ouchy-Lausanne (Ouchy-Lausanne Water-Sports Union) in 1920. Following a trip down the Rhône from 8 to 13 May 1934, these associations decided on 16 June of that year to reconstitute the "Fraternity of Ouchy Pirates". |
