A few decades ago, the CIpolarbearclub looked like it might be dying out. Now, it's stronger than ever. joedelessio spoke with some of the veteran members who keep plunging into the freezing Atlantic week after week, year after year
From left: John D’Aquino , Robbie Bailey , Dennis Thomas , Naum Barash , and Maggie Farley . Photo: Brian Finke To earn a spot in the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, one needs to do more than demonstrate a willingness to charge into the icy waters of the Atlantic. Out of the dozens of swimmers who try to join every year, the club generally admits around five.
In the late 1980s, soon after he first joined the Polar Bears, Dennis Thomas would show up on Sunday afternoons in the winter to see only a handful of other swimmers, most of whom he thought of as “the old weird guys.” The club, founded in 1903 and the oldest winter bathing organization in the U.S., looked like it was dying out. “I never thought we’d be turning people away,” says Thomas, who is now 66 and the club’s president.
“I have been told that members consider this group their second family, and that’s fascinating, because we’ve never done anything to develop that consciously,” Thomas says. Still, he admits it can be bonding to share in such an extreme experience. On one recent 28-degree Sunday, he led some 50 members in jumping jacks before heading into the water. “It’s so different from anything else we do day by day,” he says. “It takes you to a different place.
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