Mark Ostroot heard that all he needed to do to stay warm during annual Polar Bear Plunge was to wear a dry suit.
So when he got up early Saturday morning, he dressed in a suit and tie and headed for Hollywood Beach in Port Angeles.
“It was the only ‘dry’ suit I had,” he said, just after taking three quick dips in Port Angeles Harbor.
“Now it is a wet suit.”
Ostroot, who was participating in the event for the first time, dragged about 15 of his friends and co-workers at Price Ford Lincoln Mercury in Port Angeles to the beach to start out the new year with a chilly dip.
“The way I figure is that if it is about 30 degrees outside and the water is about 47 degrees — well, that adds up to 77, and that is plenty warm,” Ostroot said.
Ostroot was joined by about 70 others who gathered at 10 a.m. to run three times into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Although participants could see their breath fade into the 25-degree air, the sun was shining, warming the beach slightly as the hour grew nearer for the plunge.
No breeze was felt off the water, and the harbor was nearly glass-like — though some might say ice-like — with no wind to make waves.
“This is the best weather we have ever had — blue skies and sun shining,” said organizer Dan Welden.
Welden handed out certificates to those who participated.
The water temperature measured just about 10 minutes before the participants took the plunge was 48 degrees.
“The water was balmy,” said bobbi fabellano, whose name is legally lowercase, just after climbing out of the water.
Just before going in, she said her theory was that the water would feel warm compared with the air temperature.
She has participated in all 22 years of the event, she said — and she has her reasons.
“One, this is tradition,” she said.
“Two, we can wash away the old and bring on the new.
“And the last and best reason I do this is: I’m crazy.”
Renan Presti Escribano, a foreign exchange student from Brazil attending Port Angeles High School, decided to participate with Maizie Reidel, 12, who is his host “sister.”
“I’m a little bit concerned,” he said, surveying the mounds of frosty seaweed strewn on the beach.
Hailing from Sao Paulo, where the temperatures rarely, if ever, approach freezing, he said he wore a wet suit for protection.
“I thought that I will be here only 10 months, and this might be my only chance to do the Polar Bear Plunge in Port Angeles,” he said.
“In Sao Paulo, temperatures below zero [Celsius, or 32 degrees Fahrenheit] are unheard of.”
Afterward, he said he was surprised by how long it took him to feel the cold.
“I thought, at first, that it would be freezing immediately,” he said.
“But it only hit me after the second time in — and then it felt like the pressure in my head would explode,” he said.
Maizie was the instigator of the plan and has been wanting to participate for several years, she said.
“I can’t feel my toes now,” she said.
“But I will for sure do it again next year.
“I hope that this becomes a tradition — I’ll bring all of our exchange students.”
At Lake Pleasant, the breezy weather made for a chilling experience, said Kevin Hinchen, who has participated in the Forks-area plunge since it began five years ago.
About 25 to 30 people jumped in the lake.
Hinchen said his participation is at the prodding of his niece, Sonja Hirsch, one of the founders of the dip.
Hirsch and her friend, Monica Henry, started the cold dip on a whim, looking for something to do on New Year’s Day.
The group regularly wears costumes — though they are not required — for the chilly swim.
This year, Hinchen wore all black with a black stocking cap and a black nylon stocking covering his face.
“No one knew who I was, I think,” the Forks City Council member said.
He said he does it to ensure a refreshing beginning of a new year — and to celebrate with a special tradition.
“It is a good way to wash out the old year and bring in the new,” he said.
“When you do it with everyone else, there is a sense of camaraderie because most people won’t go and do it.”
At Neah Bay, the 16 people who plunged into the water celebrated the 10th year of the event, said founder June Williams, 62.
Although she originally thought she would be out of town for the event, she managed to make it — but will probably consider it her last, she said.
“I have a frozen shoulder going on, so there really isn’t much I can do anymore,” she said.
“But it is so much fun.”
Williams started the event after developing debilitating asthma.
“I thought, ‘What do I have to lose?'” she said.
“Ten years later, and I’m great.”
After the event, she always invites friends and family over for “hot soup, hot bread and hot cocoa.”
“It really is just a blast,” she said.
