Traditionally, a new year allows people to wash themselves of last year’s troubles and start fresh.
Some people took this concept literally on Tuesday. And they got the goosebumps to prove it.
At noon on New Year’s Day, hundreds of people braved chilly waters and choppy winds for the 67th annual San Pedro Polar Bear swim at Cabrillo Beach.
Attendees from as far as Austria took part in the celebrated event.
Before jumping into the water, 2018 Polar Bear King Mike Schaadt and Queen Beth Bachet passed the crowns to the 2019 royalty, Minh Nguyen-Vo and Malia Wakinekona Carlsen.
“In Vietnam, the coldest it got was maybe 64 degrees,” Nguyen-Vo, who moved from Vietnam to San Pedro 30 years ago, joked. “So swimming in these waters has been quite a transition.”
With their crowns on and tridents in hand, the Nguyen-Vo and Carlsen announced the start of the swim.
Following tradition, the newly crowned king and queen led around 500 swimmers into the waters for a refreshing, freezing dip in the Pacific Ocean.
“The water is 54 degrees today,” 2005 Polar King Lou Mannick shouted to the crowd. “And our goal today is to raise that by at least one degree and warm this beach up.”
Those who completely submerged themselves were rewarded with a t-shirt.
But for the most part, participants were eager to throw a towel on, warm up and revel in their accomplishment.
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