Celebrating The New Year with Hypothermia!

On New Year’s Day all across Rhode Island people ran into the frigid waters as part of the annual Polar Bear swim to celebrate The New Year. Rhode Island is of course nicknamed the ocean state, so there is no shortage of beaches to take the plunge. Those taking the plunge had their choice of Barrington, Block Island, Jamestown, Little Compton, Narragansett, Newport, North Kingstown, South Kingstown and Westerly. Many of the clubs also swam to benefit charities such as A Wish Come True Foundation. Hence the title of Westerly’s swim was “Freezin’ for a Reason” which suitably benefited the W. A. R. M. shelter (Westerly Area Rest Meals). At Newport Easton Beach there were reportedly about 500 brave souls who took the plunge. If the traffic situation is any indication of popularity, then Newport’s Polar Bear’s plunge certainly takes the prize. There were probably a dozen or more police officials managing what appeared to be organized chaos.

On the other hand, North Kingstown’s plunge which occurred at 2pm was much less crowded and lacked Miss Rhode Island Amy Diaz who was at Easton Beach. Nonetheless, there was still upwards of a 25 to 30 who took the plunge. Easton Beach in Newport which is situated just down the road from the cliff walk was pretty cold; not because of the air temperature or water temperature, but because of the wind chill factor. In fact, the wind was intense enough that it was probably almost warmer in the water then out. North Kingstown on the other hand was not so bad; while my exposed skin at Easton was probably numb after about 15 minutes, at North Kingstown it was possible to be only slightly chilled in a T-shirt. This is because North Kingstown is situated in a secluded cove of the Narragansett Bay while Easton Beach is located at the bottom of Newport near the opening of the bay to the Rhode Island Sound. Because of the secluded nature of North Kingstown there was virtually no wind, as opposed to the almost gale force winds at Easton. Interestingly enough there were also no swimmers that chose to linger in the water at North Kingstown, while there were a few brave souls who stayed out in the water quite long at Easton. Whether this is indicative of the dedication of some of the people that come to Easton Beach I cannot say for certain, as I suspect there are some extremely hard core people at beaches all around on New Year’s, and it certainly takes a great degree of dedication just to go in the cold waters of the Northeast most any time of year, especially in the rainy conditions which occurred on New Year’s day in both 2007 and 2008. Additionally, the law of probably says there would be a better chance of seeing even more dedicated people when the numbers are higher, which was the case at Easton. Another possible explanation for the few highly dedicated people at Easton is they may had been members of their polar bear club which goes in every Sunday at Easton, but at North Kingstown it only occurs on New Years, as far as I know. The one unique challenge sometimes faced at North Kingstown is, depending on the tide, you may have to run quite far through the shallow water numbing your feet to fully submerge yourself.

Background of the Polar Bear Swim
As some of you may remember I wrote about the Polar Bear Swim on December 31, 2006. The modern polar bear and penguin plunge swim likely have their origins in European saunas; also I think there may be a connection with Icelandic hot springs too. The basic premises behind the saunas was they provided some sort of health benefit; likewise with the plunge into cold water there is an exaltation afterwards, which some think may have health benefits. Although, any direct health benefits certainly do not motivate most people the indirect social and emotional benefits along i.e. the thrill could be thought of as positive and perhaps even healthily benefits. This is not to say the plunge is without its risks, as the shock of cold water can sometimes stop a person’s heart. In deep water the cold shock can also cause involuntary gasping which may lead a person to swallow large amounts of water because of the inability to hold your breath caused by hyperventilation. Needless to say if you have a heart defect you probably would not want to attempt the plunge. Hypothermia only becomes a risk for most people after about 15 minutes or more. So if one warms up right away it is usually not too dangerous for the majority of people, though there may be some minor adverse effects such as frost nip. As the saying goes what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Here is a Polar bear song I found:

Same tune as “Bingo” (B-I-N-G-O, and Bingo was his name-o).

In, in, in we go
Through the ice and snow
Even though it’s ten below
‘cause we are polar bears.

. . . and as one they run into the merciless waters.

Polar bear swim From Willipedia

Related Posts:

• Polar Bear Plunge
• Happy New Year’s Everyone!
• Picture of The Day-New Year’s Eve and Day
• North Kingstown Town beach

Tags: celebrate, New Year's, penguin, plunge, polar bear, tradition