A bit like Christmas

Created: 11/29/2022, 9:02 am

By: Andrea Graepel

Proud of the new boat: Sven Höner (centre) from the BRK's emergency services department handed over the new boat to Jens Möller (left) and Philipp Müller-Judex (right) in Schwandorf.

© Wasserwacht Ortsgruppe Buch

Wasserwacht Buch receives a new boat for the guard station in Stegen

Buch/Stegen – The old rubber dinghy has had its day, from the next season the watch station of the Buch water rescue service in Stegen will be equipped with a new boat.

Local group chairman Jens Möller and his deputy technical director Philipp Müller-Judex have just picked up the new emergency vehicle from Schwandorf.

Möller was happy on social media: "A bit like Christmas," he wrote there under the photo that he posted from the pick-up date.

The new 5.80 meter long boat with a 100 hp engine replaces the old dinghy, which is around 20 years old and was only equipped with a 40 hp unit.

The old one had space for five people, the new one is approved for eight people.

Both boats were financed from Bavarian rescue funds.

The costs of the new purchase with standard equipment are therefore not yet known to Möller.

The disused boat, he says, will probably now be auctioned off over the Internet.

The proceeds go back to the Ministry of the Interior, which pays for the rescue equipment, explains Möller.

What is still missing in Stegen is a so-called slip car to be able to launch the boat easily.

this car,

which probably costs around 12,000 euros, the local group Buch has to finance itself, so it would be very happy to receive donations.

Möller and his management team are currently in the process of obtaining offers from manufacturers.

The guard station in Stegen belongs to the Buch water rescue service, which itself has only 22 active members.

Möller calls this the “lower limit”.

Therefore, he would be happy if there were newcomers.

Due to the small number of active people, the guard station in Stegen will only be manned on weekends from the Whitsun holidays.

"For "x years", as Möller says, supported by the district water rescue service Augsburger Land.

"Otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford that." However, the station and equipment at the popular and lively bathing spot in Stegen belonged to the Buch local group.

And there has to be a boat there, "otherwise it doesn't make much sense" (Möller).

The new boat was built in Rostock and delivered to Schwandorf along with a larger order of boats.

There it was issued by the regional office of the Bavarian Red Cross and already taken to Buch.

The name has not yet been decided, but the fact that the baptism is to be celebrated at the beginning of the new season is big.

The date is not fixed yet.