‘Mad scientists’ in shortest day plunge
It was a shivery shortest day for a group of ‘‘mad scientists’’ yesterday.
Toes were curled and eyes were closed as staff of the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (Niwa) jumped off a Wellington pier to celebrate the winter solstice, or shortest day of the year.
For people more accustomed to studying the water than experiencing it first hand, the plunge at Evans Bay posed a bit of a challenge.
‘‘I have no idea why I’m doing this,’’ one woman pondered.
Despite the jokes about sharks and shrinkage, safety was taken seriously by the team.
‘‘We’ve got a defib machine in case someone has a heart attack from the shock,’’ one supporter assured the jumpers.
Emma Hawthorne wasn’t daunted by the dip, she takes the plunge regularly, but said an incentive always helped.
‘‘We’ll have showers, hot soup and rolls afterwards.’’
It was an annual event that Niwa held and a good chance to have a bit of fun, she sad.
‘‘We’re the literal group of mad scientists.’’
Ebony Barrett had been ‘‘volunteered’’ by colleague Chloe Hauraki and was busy psyching herself up to make the leap.
‘‘I haven’t been in sea water for over four years.’’
With the water temperature sitting at 11 degrees Celsius, Barrett was worried her wetsuit might not be up to the task but had an even bigger fear gnawing at her.
‘‘Me and sharks are not friends. I’m just hoping there aren’t any about.’’
After the dip she said it was worse than expected.
It was a lunchtime jump for the workmates but the winter solstice is an exact moment in time – 4.24pm.
Also known as mid-winter, it marks the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year. For Auckland this means having nine hours and 37 minutes of daylight, while Invercargill has eight hours and 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Metservice was forecasting snow to 500 metres in Canterbury and Central Otago today and Timaru was officially the coldest part of New Zealand shortly after noon yesterday on 0.7C.