Swimming in the New Year. Brrrr! You’ll get cold just watching. On the first day of each year, the brave, the foolhardy, and those hardened up for the winter take a dip in the 4 °C water of the Baltic. A real Prerow tradition!

Some apparently find it hard to wait for the day. The swimming season on Prerow’s North Beach opens each year on 1 January. Some 200 die-hards plunge into the 4°C water of the Baltic, wearing just swimming trunks, silly costumes, or even naked. What follows is a lot of splashing, screaming, laughing and shouting. Mulled wine, fire, music and the respect of those on shore awaits them as their reward.

Originally, it was the New Year’s dive of a local diving club, but others have since decided to join in on the fun. Given the poor underwater visibility and the associated risks for the divers, the event has been limited in recent years to just swimming. Each year, an increasing number of water lovers follow the call of the Kurbetrieb (local resort office) while many others come to watch the spectacle from short, sometimes shaking their heads and sometimes applauding.