On of the many traditions people get into on New Year’s Day is the infamous Polar Bear Swim and Vancouver is one of the cities that has been continuing this tradition for 89 years. 89 years of hung over (or drunk) people running nearly naked into the frigid waters of English Bay is a pretty long time and it is only getting more and more popular.
Granted this was the first Polar Bear Swim that Robyn and I attended along with our friend Jenny and some of our parents. I for one was very skeptical in going into the 6 degree Celsius water among hundreds of other people. Though as the day grew I got more into the groove and looked forward in attempting this pretty crazy feat which not everyone seems par take in.
Originally I wanted to take photos of everyone, though I did borrow Robyn’s Pentax Waterproof camera to try and capture some of the crazy moments of these people sprinting into the cold water. Though with Robyn and Jenny heckling me, I went along with them down to English Bay and registered for this annual event.
The crowd was pretty crazy and we stood in the middle of it near the entrance onto the beach. The mix of people from veteran Polar Bear attendees to the newer people such as ourselves was greatly amusing.
Lots of people dressed up in some pretty crazy costumes. Though we were glad there were no naked people this year, well at least we didn’t notice any.
At 2:30pm the mad rush of people was insane. Luckily people were not trampled though before Robyn, Jenny and I made it to the water, people were already making their way back from the chilly waters wet from head to toe.
Though we managed to make it into the water. I am not going to lie, it was bloody cold and I managed to completely submerge myself in the water. The temperature of the water was higher than that of the air. I would have probably stayed in longer but I didn’t want to get lost in the crazy crowd of people thrashing around in the cold water.
What did we get for attending the 89th Annual Polar Bear Swim for Vancouver? Satisfaction to say ‘WE DID IT’ as well as a cool button proclaiming our accomplishment. Robyn, Jenny and I have all agreed that we would definitely make this a New Year’s Day tradition for us and look forward to next year.
Have you ever done something similar to this? Have you ever attended and par took in a Polar Bear Swim? Oh did I mention how there was still a few inches of snow on the ground when we did this? Brrr
You can check out the rest of the following photos in my Flickr Vancouver Polar Bear set.
RodJan 01, 2009 at 18:03:24
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Congratulations. We went down to *watch* the Polar Bear Swim one year, but never had the nerve to go in the water. Some years I would imagine that it’s not too terribly bad due to the warmer winters. This year, however, would NOT have been one of the warmer ones.
Tyler Ingram January 1st, 2009 at 18:05:30[Link]
Nope it was definitely cold lol. It was funny because after everyone got in, the sun broke through the clouds!
RaulJan 01, 2009 at 18:15:59
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Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. Congratulations on doing it, though!
Tyler Ingram January 1st, 2009 at 18:17:09[Link]
Aww how come Raul?
TawcanJan 01, 2009 at 20:00:11
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So you took the plunge eh? Now you just have to keep doing it each year and make it a tradition.
RaulJan 01, 2009 at 20:01:13
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I have very weak immune system and getting in a really cold body of water would definitely give me pneumonia. No thanks
JasonJan 03, 2009 at 07:39:13
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I can feel myself growing a second bellybutton just thinking about it. Yikes. Kudos ya bloke!
VancityAllieJan 05, 2009 at 18:00:04
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BRRRRRRRRR! You look cold Tyler!