Polar bear plunges are a way to start the new year with a splash – quite literally. Traditionally representing the dive into a new year with all its new promises, the Loony Dook swim also brings hundreds of people together to start the year with laughter.
The 2012 Loony Dook polar bear plunge was the 26th, according to the BBC. More than a thousand hardy souls, some in costume and others in barely printable outfits, braved the icy cold waters of the Firth of Forth. The Forth Bridge, a historic landmark that's trying to secure a spot in the UNESCO World Heritage list, is the background to this crazy fun.
The 2012 Loony Dook attracted 1,000 participants and four times as many spectators and, according to its website, raises around £80,000 for local charities. The Queensferry event has grown from a grass-roots bit of lunacy to an official part of Edinburgh's Hogmanay adventure.
The first year, only about four came; today, attendees come from around the world, though only about one-fifth are daft enough to actually take the plunge. Started by the late Andy Kerr, Pete Jackson, Jim Kilcullen, James MacKenzie and Iain Andrews in 1987, the Loony Dook founders also claim another benefit to attendance: Their polar bear plunge gets rid of a hangover, pronto.
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Sources: BBC Scotland; Scottish Daily Record; The Loony Dook history; Getty Images;
Linda Gentile is the British Royal Family Examiner and British Life Examiner. You can be the first to read new articles on either topic by subscribing or adding the RSS feed. You can also follow on Twitter and Facebook.
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