My Mini Polar Bear Swim

At long last, I have finally found the time to blog about my 2011 Polar Bear experience. The Polar Bear Swim is a Ham Fam tradition dating back to 1977 when the first group of my relatives headed down to English Bay to jump in the ocean on New Years Day. From that time it has evolved into an event full of traditions in which the family and their friends hop onto a rented school bus, sing songs, drink themselves silly, and jump in the ocean. I have been participating in this tradition since New Year's Day 1996. I missed a couple of years due to theatre productions (98 & 99) when I was a stage manager and one year (I think 2001) when I was sick but have attended all other years since 1996. This year, I was stuck on the wrong side of the country and could not participate with my family, but I made sure to have my own mini polar bear swim in my part of the world, complete with Ham Fam traditions. (Also, if anyone has pictures that will compliment the ones I took this year - such as polar bears drinking Fireball - send them over!)

First I donned my traditional Polar Bear attire, which generally consists of fun socks, long johns, boxer shorts, long sleeved shirt, and a Polar Bear shirt over top.

Some Polar Bears have much more creative costumes, but I generally stick with my traditional attire.

Next, I had a mini bottle of Baileys to make myself the traditional Polar Bear Coffee and Baileys.

The traditional liquor of choice for the Polar Bear Swim, as represented on the t-shirts, is Southern Comfort. Elder Polar Bears still shudder at the mention of its name and have largely stopped drinking it. In more recent years,  the new generation of Polar Bears has christened Fireball Whiskey as the drink of choice for the swim. Several bottles are generally purchased and then are passed around the bus and shared by all. I purchased a mini bottle of Fireball for my own mini polar bear experience.

You can also see the "SC" on the Polar Bear's glass on my shirt - for Southern Comfort

So with my supplies ready, I hopped into the car and headed to McDonalds, as we have done every year on the way to the swim since 1996.

Me in Sackville McDonald's

The boys in the Vancouver McDonald's.

After we chow down in McDonald's we always take the traditional picture of the whole group in front of the bus.

So I took my picture of me with my "bus."

Then it was off to the swim! I made sure to get in a shot of Fireball before getting out of the car.

We arrived at the lake and found that since it was such a beautiful day they had the biggest turnout ever for this swim. Most of the people are spectators, but there were about 30 swimmers, up from their previous record of 10.

It was still a very small crowd compared to the thousands that flock to English Bay.

In keeping with the theme of "mini," instead of running into the giant ocean, this Polar Bear Swim required participants to jump through a small hole in the ice.

There was no chanting , no singing, no ceremony at all really. Just a woman with a bullhorn calling our names as we jumped three by three into the hole in the ice.

At the Polar Bear swim at English Bay, we often go back in for second or third dips, and then hang around and chat for a bit before heading to the change rooms to get into some warm, dry clothes. Since there was no change rooms here, I just took off my wet clothes and hung around for a while in my bathing suit and a towel.

All in all, my mini Polar Bear Swim was a fun experience, and I am glad I got to do a "real" polar bear swim in ice.

 
Hopefully next year I will be back to celebrate my favorite day of the year with Ham Fam Polar Bears in Vancouver!