# Der Wickelfisch

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2019-08-21

der-wickelfisch, don-river, environment, europe, floating, lake-ontario, product, rhein, river, river-float, swim, swimming, swiss, switzerland, toronto, urbanism

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A colleague in the office recently introduced me to a Swiss invention called the Wickelfisch (or baby fish). Below is a video showing you how they work. They're so neat. So Swiss. And I obviously just ordered one. They're [available via this US company](https://wickelfischusa.com/) for $12-20, depending on the size.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0QagvuIFSo

The video is of people swimming in the Rhein. Because swimming downstream in rivers -- and ending up in a different location -- is so popular in Switzerland, the Whickelfisch was invented as a way to keep your clothes and belongings dry. It also acts as a flotation device.

I'm not planning on floating down the [Don River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_River_\(Ontario\)) anytime soon, but a Wickelfisch looks like the perfect bag to bring to the beach. Especially if you don't want to leave your stuff unattended to while you go for a swim.

Of course, the other neat thing about this video is that it shows you how awesome it is to have clean and swimmable water running through the middle of a city. Most people I know are afraid to swim in Lake Ontario out of fear they might grow a 6th toe.

That's too bad.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/der-wickelfisch)*