Amid brisk winds, Polar Bear group plunges into 2012
Most of the exuberant, drunken and/or shivering participants of the 2012 Polar Bear Plunge had already leaped in at noon, posed for photos, and left the beach by the time Judie Liebenstein and Muriel Blackwood headed for the water.
They had to go to church first.
And there was nowhere to park.
Virtually alone in the frigid surf, save for a man in a Badgers jersey with a stuffed polar bear on his head, wading along while playing a trombone, the two women clasped hands and ran back out.
"I've wanted to do this for years and I finally found someone crazy enough to do it with me," a laughing Liebenstein, 47, said of her friend Blackwood, 70.
Earlier, at Bay View United Methodist Church, they'd listened to the pastor exalt the virtues of trying new things and thinking outside the box.
It was apt advice for first-time jumpers and longtime participants Sunday.
***
Paul Zehm, 49, backed his snowplow truck into a parking space adjacent to Bradford Beach at 5 a.m. Sunday.
He'd been up all night and on call to plow, but it never snowed heavily, so he headed to the beach to secure a prized front-row seat for the day's event.
His daughter and some of her pals were going to jump for the first time.
He called Meghan Zehm, 27, at 6 a.m.
"Are you coming down?" he said. "I got you all a spot."
Meghan rolled in at 11:20 a.m. with friends, beer, vodka and Red Bull. Paul Zehm fired up the grill and a Dyna-Glo portable propane heater, run off his truck's generator. He didn't seem to have minded the long wait.
"Somebody had to do it," he said, grinning.
***
Candy sweet pop music thumped and bumped from a stereo at the feet of the Blond Bouffants.
Becca Hare and her mom, Paula Hare, get their female friends and family members to put on bright yellow foam wig hats in the classic 1950s-style updo before taking the plunge each year.
They all huddled together on a tarp with their crazy hats and wriggled to the music.
Becca Hare, 20, attends Fordham University in New York City and completed her seventh jump.
Paula Hare, 53 and from Mequon, ran in for a ninth time.
"I'm the naughty polar bear mom," Paula Hare said, sweeping away the hem of her hot pink bathrobe to show off hot pink leg warmers atop white snow boots.
"Oh my God, Mom, stop it," Becca said.
***
At almost 83 years old, Garth Gaskey was probably the most experienced plunger Sunday.
The man known as the Polar President of Milwaukee completed his 60th freezing jump into Lake Michigan. He was joined by his granddaughter and great granddaughter, who took the plunge for the first time.
The Journal Sentinel wrote a story last week about Gaskey, who said he was going to hang it up after six decades of plunging.
But in the car, while removing his sodden water shoes, Gaskey didn't sound so certain.
"I'm not sure yet," he said.
Gaskey's daughter, Cathy Mayer, leaned over from the driver's seat with a more authoritative answer:
"We're taking him to Arizona next year."
***
The air temperature was about 30 degrees Sunday, with wind gusts of up to 24 mph.
For a few brief minutes around noon, as the main thrust of people ran into and out of the water, brilliant sunshine broke through a steel-gray sky and dazzled the beach.
Perhaps Mother Nature was in on the joke. Or maybe it was a sign of brighter days ahead.
Regardless, people cheered.
No Way...
Oh NO freaking way... :-O :-X
Now...if this was in Hawaii...I might change my mind. 🙂 :sun: :angel: 
Nopie Nopie !
BUT, the sunrise on Bradford Beach is BEAUTIFUL !
When I Was Younger
Family tradition was to swim in the pond on Easter Sunday. Sometimes it was neccessary to first break the ice. Our father led the way, so it was hard to say no.
Break up the ice on New Years Day and you would ruin the ice skating. Alas, no ice skating ice now for 30 years.
BTW, our pond was bathing suits optional. The pucker factor was soon learned.
At about 55 I even gave up taking the swimming test on the first day of summer camp, which was jump into 40 degree water and immediately swim. I would go back on Monday. get accustomed to the water and then swim the test.
Paul in PA
When I Was Younger
I did that once, ONCE, about 7 years ago. The water temp was around 33F and the air temp was the same. It was a hang over cure for sure. We did here in Pittsburgh on New Years Day. Jumping into the beautiful clean waters of the Monongahela River. It is now off my list.
When I Was Younger
> We did here in Pittsburgh on New Years Day. Jumping into the beautiful clean waters of the Monongahela River. It is now off my list.
Now that is funny right there 😉
When I Was Younger
I have water skiied on Christmas Day. But it was a nice warm (65 degrees) day and I took off the bank instead of jumping in. Now, if I were to try I probably wouldn't walk for a week. My knees won't take that pounding any more.
Andy
Can't be any different than swimming in Lake Superior. I have first hand experience that if you do that in mixed company and everbody is in their birthday suits, the gals will get an enormous laugh as us mere males exit the 40 degree water with our man parts hidden in some orafice we didn't know existed. Rendering us as useless as the eunichs we appear to be.
...at least the gals got a good laugh. It was the pointing of the finger while laughing that really emphasizes the mereness of our mortality.
God is funny that way. They get "headlights" in the cold and we like that. Whilst we get "turtled" in the cold and they laugh... 😛
The air temperature this year was nice for the Polar Bear(ers). 30 degrees on New Year's Day is WARM for Wisconsin. I think the water temp for Lake Michigan right now is about 36 degrees.
No Way...
They do it here on Sanibel , Angel!
No way if the water temperature is below 80 degrees my butt ain't going in, lest this happen;-)
[flash width=480 height=360] http://www.youtube.com/v/1cUNNKzj_Nc?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0 [/flash]
The only problem is, I just don't care anymore. (About the shrinkage, not the water temp!)
Have a great week.
'92, Beaufort Sea, still have a scar on my head from the small ice floe I hit. I watch now, but don't participate! Like they teach us early here in Alaska ..... "Don't fall off the boat, eh.":-P
-JD-
NO!! Even when I used to to "Crazy" things like riding bulls.
Closest I ever came was the summer of 1965. I was in Wyoming, the heater in the city pool went out. The next morning for swimming lessons, I dove in and right back out.
Water temp wasn't lower than 50 and probably was higher.
It's a lot easier after coming out of a sauna that is so hot you can barely stand it.
"exit the 40 degree water with our man parts hidden in some orafice we didn't know existed". I believe the proper term is " a button on a fur coat".
Hey Target Locked, I'll meet you there next year. You & I will show these guys what
Wisconsin surveyors can do. I'll bring the brandy.
