T'was a Great Sunday at the Beach? In Frankfurt? Yep.

To be honest, not quite in Frankfurt, but at one of the most popular lakes Frankfurters go to in their spare time: The Langener Waldsee. To swim, relax, sail, windsurf... This is what it looks like on a sunny day. Not the Caribbean, but not bad for a landlocked metropolis:

Lucky me, I am privileged, as one of my best buddies is a member of a local sailing club there, so we get to enter an area reserved to those members and their friends. It even has a tiny sand beach. So does the public part, much bigger even, but crowded accordingly.

However, I didn't just have time off, I had (and wanted to) help him lead and a organize a summer regatta. It was quite interesting for a boating rookie like myself, we took a motorboat out on the lake and anchored buoys, in order to define the route the sailboats later on had to navigate around:

My buddy tying the big buoy to a smaller one

Most of the work, including shouting at sailors through a megaphone when they didn't follow the rules, was done by my friend, so my job was helping where I could, but was mostly sunbathing, reading, eating cake, and jumping in the lake whenever I got too hot. AND, last, but surely not least, driving the motorboat, which is an activity I would love to practize much more often. I loved it.

Me steering that motorboat Hasselhoff style!

Almost at the end of the regatta there was a little shock disturbing the beautiful day. A police chopper started hovering over the lake, ambulance and fire vehicles arrived at the public part. We were sure somebody had drowned, as they were obviously searching the water. They even ended up evacuating the entire public beach. However, later on in the news I learned somebody had told the lifeguards about a missing person. That person had not told their friends they were going home, could not be reached via phone - there goes a search party, probably costing the tax payer a nice sum of money. Oh well, we should all be glad we have those institutions in place when something really goes wrong.

That part did not spoil my day, I have lived on the Atlantic shore for many years, but back home in Frankfurt I am quite happy with my Langener Waldsee. Visit it when you're in the area on a warm summer day!

The regatta in action!