This year, I decided to check out the Polar Bear Swim for the first time since I’ve been living in Vancouver. Usually, I would just wait for the news and watch it on TV, but thought I’d do something a bit different this year. After all, I am living just a 10 minute walk from English Bay.

Well, I set off for the beach around 20 minutes before the big sprint and plunge, but I almost decided to turn back half way there because it was just pouring rain. The rain was pretty well as heavy as it can get, and even though I had an umbrella, my shoulders and sneakers were getting soaking wet. Before I had a chance to wuss out, though, I saw a guy walking past me wearing just a bathrobe with no umbrella, on his was to participate in the polar bear swim, so I decided to keep going.

Quite a crowd for such a rainy day

Quite a crowd for such a rainy day

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get very close. I decided to stay up on the sidewalk to get a higher angle, and also, there was quite a bit of mud on the slope below. I got a good laugh at seeing some people trying to jump down off the sidewalk to the grass below, only to land on their butts and slide down in the mud, and decided myself not to be the subject for someone else’s laughter.

Then they were off! I almost couldn’t imagine being almost naked like so many of the people there, standing in the cold rain, and then running into the icy cold water. Dozens of people started splashing in and some screamed as they submerged their bodies. There were several who swam out pretty far, too.

How do they do it? You can't help but respect a person who can tough this out.

How do they do it? You can't help but respect a person who can tough this out.

I saw one lady walking back wearing a bikini. Her skin looked a bit pink from the cold, and she didn’t have a towel or umbrella. She just kept walking calmly, and then crossed the street and disappeared around the block. Apparently, she was living in the area, and had just walked out of her apartment in her bikini to do the Polar Bear Swim, and then went back home again.

Why do so many people go through the trouble? I just got through checking many websites to try to find out if the swim actually has a purpose other than to give someone a sense of accomplishment. I could see in some other cities that participants are required to raise a minimum amount of money in pledges before being able to participate, but I couldn’t find any reference to this being done in Vancouver. All I could find out about the Polar Bear Swim in Vancouver is that participants can receive a commemorative button.

Interestingly, the Polar Bear Swim is mentioned in the nomination for a Darwin Award in 2000 to a man who attempted to swim a short distance from one ice hole to another and didn’t resurface. According to the Darwin Award site, Darwin Awards are given to “commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it.”