Meet the man who swims in the Iowa River every day

Time after time in recent weeks, emergency responders have been called to the Iowa River to rescue somebody in the water.

Only he wasn't in trouble.

A local man, who likes to simply be known as Blue, recently finished a 30-day spiritual exercise that involved near-daily swims in the chilly river and barefoot runs downtown. He says he's been swimming in the river since 1982, when he moved to Iowa City from California to be with a girl. That relationship didn't work out, but Blue has been a fixture in Iowa City ever since.

The spiritual aspect of Blue's swims, which he says are inspired by Native American traditions, started about 16 years ago. He says being in the river helps him feel closer to nature.

"I just got to thinking about how everything was getting polluted and how everything was getting wasteful," he said. "And it just turned into where I needed some type of spirituality in my life, and I couldn’t find it in these other conventional religions."

Aside from the length of the river between the Iowa Avenue Bridge and the Burlington Street Dam, where swimmers are barred by city ordinance, no law prohibits swimming in the river.

In theory, there's nothing stopping Blue from swimming outside that area, said Maj. Steve Dolezal of the Johnson County Sheriff's Office.

"The fact that he’s not breaking any laws, I think as long as he stays out of that area, I think that is accurate," Dolezal said.

But Blue has been stopped by law enforcement, he says, although he has not been charged with any crime. The experiences prompted him to reach out to Rick Zimmermann, a local lawyer and longtime friend, who agrees that it doesn't seem like Blue has done anything illegal.

To try to make things easier for police, Blue also began calling dispatch to let them know every time he's gone swimming. And he wears a white bandanna so that he'll be recognizable if people call in to report someone in trouble.

But law enforcement doesn't get to choose which calls they respond to, Dolezal pointed out.

Dolezal said he's explained to Blue how law enforcement resources are drained by the calls. The Iowa City Fire Department alone sends at least 10 people to a call about a water rescue, including a truck, a fire engine and boats, according to Fire Chief John Grier. And that's in addition to deputies from the sheriff's office and Iowa City police officers.

As a potential solution, Dolezal has asked Blue to swim in a pool or at least further upriver where he would be less likely to be seen. Blue says that's not the same.

"See, I can’t understand how people can go in the City Park swimming pool with all the chemicals in there and all the kids urinating in it because they’re too lazy to get out. To me, that’s disgusting," he said.

"I tried to swim in the pool. There’s no spirituality in it. There’s no nature in it. There’s a lot of talking."

Blue spent his childhood in California swimming in the San Francisco Bay, he said, and over his life he's crisscrossed the country and gone swimming in all sorts of bodies of water, including the Mississippi River, the Columbia River, the East River in New York and the Atlantic Ocean.

"I’ve been swimming all my life," he said. "And I find it kind of ironic that I’ve been swimming in the ocean since I was 5 years old, and now I’m 65 years old and I have to report in to swim the Iowa River. I mean, the Iowa River to me is... it’s barely a river."

Still, the danger of drowning in the Iowa River is real. In September, the body of 20-year-old University of Iowa student Nathan Twedt was pulled from the river. Twedt's death was later ruled a drowning, and an autopsy listed over-consumption of alcohol as a contributing factor.

Blue says it should be obvious to passersby that he's not in any danger.

"Most people that are in trouble are usually yelling for help and waving their arms and that kind of stuff. All I’m doing is a little breast stroke or side stroke," he said.

Dolezal said people don't necessarily expect to see someone swimming in the river, especially late into October and November, and it's not always easy for onlookers to tell if someone in the water is OK.

"I don’t think anybody’s calling in because they think it’s a hoax or something like that. I think they really think somebody’s in danger. And I think people should call," Dolezal said.

And, he said, time spent searching for Blue is time not spent helping someone who may really be in trouble.

Blue's days of river swimming may be numbered, however. Dolezal, Grier and other city officials have spoken about approaching the Iowa City Council and replacing the current ordinance governing swimming in the river with something more similar to what Cedar Rapids has on the books: No one is allowed to swim in the Cedar River within city limits without the supervision of a qualified Red Cross lifeguard, according to that law.

"Looking at the ordinance, it does permit swimming, being in the river, but we’ve discussed, would it be a better approach to move it a little further up the river," Grier said.

Until then, Dolezal acknowledges there's not much he and his deputies can do except continue to respond to calls on the river.

"Obviously, we agree to disagree on whether it’s a good idea to swim in that river, and obviously, as far as I know, he’s going to continue to do that," Dolezal said.

Reach Stephen Gruber-Miller at 319-887-5407 or sgrubermil@press-citizen.com. Follow him on Twitter: @sgrubermiller.