With the sometimes record-breaking high temperatures since the turn of the year, it is almost imperative to start the bathing season. The water guards of the Munich-Mitte local group did this on Epiphany, after dark. When the air temperature was still eight degrees, around a dozen men and women jumped into the cold water at the Großhesseloher Bridge. They protected themselves against this with neoprene suits and lit up the night with torches.
With this torch swim, they continued a tradition that many lifeguard groups have maintained at this time of year, but which was interrupted by the corona pandemic. The high point of the early bathing season was the Danube swim in Neuburg, which was always attended by several hundred water lovers from all over Germany. That too is now being revived, on January 28th, but during the day.
Because it’s hard to swim when you have to hold a torch afloat with one hand, the Munich water guards preferred to drift in the Isarwerk canal; it runs almost parallel to the river, but has a stronger current. After about two kilometers and three quarters of an hour in the water, the hardened men and women climbed ashore just before Isarwerk 1 and walked the remaining meters to their station at the Marienklause.
They didn’t have to go out to rescue once in the summer
The fact that the Isar had comparatively little water in the recent past and the current was weak has saved the Munich-Mitte water rescue service a lot of work. The so-called “Isarretters” are located in a treacherous place, on a weir – and when the Isar is flooded, there are often life-threatening situations for rubber boat drivers or bathers. Because the Isar was also affected by the general drought last year, the guards from the Marienklause did not have to go out to a water rescue once. Apart from minor mishaps such as wasp stings and wound care, it was only called out 15 times for larger operations such as broken feet or bicycle falls.
We went into the water near the Großhesseloher Bridge
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
Those who go swimming in the Isar these days do so at their own risk. The water guards, all of whom work on a voluntary basis, do not start their service until May 1st and only do it on weekends and public holidays when the weather is nice. That too is part of their tradition.