NEW YORK—Many New Yorkers were enjoying the uncharacteristically warm weather that marked the first day of 2012.
Meanwhile, more than 1,200 hardy souls went to the other extreme and plunged into the frigid Atlantic Ocean for the annual Polar Bear swim at Coney Island. The not-so-brave looked on.
“It’s a New York tradition, and we’ve been doing it since 1903,” said Dennis Thomas, president of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club. “It’s an awesome New Year’s Day party for New Yorkers who want to attend and not be at Times Square.”
The club was founded by Bernarr Macfadden, known as the Father of Physical Culture, according to the club’s website. A website dedicated to him details a philosophy that espoused a diet of fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, while encouraging proper exercise, fresh air, and a healthy amount of sunshine. He discouraged tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs.
The polar plunge began, says the club’s website, with Macfadden’s belief that a dip in the frigid winter ocean could boost one’s stamina, health, and wellbeing.
After starting off the day with a breakfast of sandwiches, bagels, coffee, and juice at the New York aquarium, the club and other adventurous types ventured at 1 p.m. into the 45 degree water—a couple of degrees higher than usual—for the club’s largest public event.
The plunge doubles as a fundraiser for Camp Sunshine, an organization based in Maine that provides youth with life-threatening illnesses and their families with a free weeklong program filled with games, and events, and time for solitude in a tranquil setting.
Approximately $50,000 was raised from swimmers’ pledges this year.
Thomas says the event has grown in size exponentially from when he first joined 27 years ago.
“When I look back at my early days in the club, if we got 200 people showing up, then we would have considered that huge,” Thomas explained, standing amid more than 1,000 swimmers.
A plunge of remembrance
The Polar Bear Club plungers weren’t the only ones out there. The Ice Breakers Winter Ocean Swimmers braved the cold Atlantic waters about noon on Sunday.
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