January 7, 2014

The Polar Bear Swim

Alternate title: The stupidest thing we've ever done.  10,000 years ago the area was covered in ice.  Apparently it melted December 31, 2013.  Almost every year since Geordie and I moved to the English Bay area we have gone down to witness the annual January 1st Polar Bear Swim.  You can 'officially' sign up and there are relays and prizes but many people just go in unofficially.  The beach was particularily crowded this year as there was no rain and pretty decent cloud cover made for an air temperature of about 5-7 degrees.
George, Anne Kim and Ginna Berg and myself did the swim after alittle Dutch courage.  I was in first.  A fit of madness took me.  I made a point of not looking up the ocean temperature.  It was probably around 5-8 degrees Celsius. You can see there are lots of boats in the background. Mostly gawkers but the dragon boats and the cop boats are there to help if anyone gets into trouble.  Below we are screeching 'Oh My FECKING GAWD IT'S COLD!'.  Except for Ginna in her adorable swim cap who is just prancing in.
Now we are out and warming up and huddled together.  We scurried back to our apartment where we all piled in the shower and than had rum.  Our skin felt amazing and tingly after the feeling came back.  The next day we found that they had pulled a manky body some where up from English Bay in False Creek in one of the marinas.  

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