The Annual Polar Bear Swim: English Bay, Vancouver

Hey!  Do you fancy going for a dip on New Years Day?  Are you brave enough?  Because, if you do, you won’t be alone!  Every year thousands of Vancouverites descend on English Bay to take a frigid dip in the water.  And guess what?  Every year the attendance is broken!

This year marks the 91st annual Vancouver Polar Bear Swim.  The Polar Bear Swim Club is one of the largest and oldest Polar Bear Clubs in the world.  People have been taking the New Years dip since back in 1920.  The founder of the Polar Bear Swim was Peter Pantages and since that first chilly swim, the numbers of swimmers has grown from the original 10 swimmers to a record number of over more than 2,000 official entries.

If you’re brave enough, bring your swim suit or don some kind of crazy costume and come down to the beach at 2.30 on New Years day.  The Peter Pantages Memorial 100 yard swim race is always the highlight of the event.  But so are the crazy costumes people who up in.  This event isn’t just for the brave-hearted adults, there are plenty of kids that go in the water as well, and a great many elders, some who have been participating for years.

If you want to participate,  you need to register before the swim.  Registration is in front of the English Bay Bathhouse on the beach at the foot of Davie and Denman Streets, from 12.30 pm – 2.30 pm each New Years Day.  You can also find a registration form in the the Province Newspaper and present it at the desk the day of the swim.  Donations of non-perishable food bank items are welcome.

So come on down!  Don’t be a sissy.  It’s tons of fun.  Did I go in for a dip last year?  No, I was a friend’s coat watcher, but it looked like such  fun  I am very tempted to join in this year.  Will I?  Well, come on down and see!

Note: If you are out in the suburbs, there is a Polar Bear Swim at Centennial Beach, Tsawassen as well.  Information.

Photos: by W. Ruth Kozak (from the Polar Bear Swim 2010)