Water temp was low 30s and the windchill factor brought air temp equivalent to close to zero. Plungers had to navigate frozen heaps of ice and sand, the residue of a lakefront frozen until 24 hours earlier. Quite a few crossed the line in the sand from "This is fun!" to "Never again!"
Plunge protocol requires workout suits (or less, in the case of intrepid bikini-clad dippers), but Open Water Chicago has a nice report of a wetsuited swim earlier in the day with pictures that show ambient environment: http://openwaterchicago.com/
Bayfield, WI, has a costumed plunge in March as part of its Winter Festival: http://bayfield.org
Pictures of your special plunge are welcome!
:applaud:
Former Member
Low 30's? Whoo! Mine wasn't that cold but it was of a pretty healthy distance... I swam about 11k (meant to go 10k, whoops) in 53 degree water from Avila Beach to Pismo Beach on the Central Coast of California sans wetsuit.
I've got pictures and a write up over here: robaquatics.com/.../2011-pismo-polar-bear-10k-swim.html
Video over here: robaquatics.com/.../more-2011-pismo-polar-bear-swim-coverage.html
I have however done a midwestern ice strewn polar bear swim before too in Milwaukee when I was a freshman in high school... questionable decision for sure but we had fun being dumb :D
I'm doing a polar bear plunge next month. It's not a swim...just jump in the pool then scramble to get out as quickly as possible. The one I do is a costumed plunge. Last year I wore a bikini. This year I'm wearing a mankini a la Borat.
Have done polar bear plunges in the Puget Sound in past years (water temp 46 degrees). Cheated a little this year with my plunge in Park City, Utah. Outside air temp was -11 with a chill factor of -22. The cheat part was the water temp of +85 in the pool. Great way to get a new year going.
movies.island-escape.com/2011polarbear.wmv
