Friends dip into big chill
It was a chilly start to the day but six longtime friends gathered at Caroline Bay yesterday morning to egg each other on for their annual winter solstice swim.
‘‘Most of us have known each other since we were teenagers, we all grew up in Timaru and know each other through school and sport,’’ group member Wayne Doyle said.
‘‘There’s a group of us that have been doing it for probably the last 20 years so it has become an annual event to go down on the shortest day, or closest to it, and run into the sea.’’
This year the temperature on the beach was about 9 degrees, but it felt quite warm, he said.
‘‘It felt warmer than last year
when it was clear blue skies and a frosty morning and the water was freezing,’’ he said.
‘‘It was still cold, you’re still shivering and your body is just aching from the pain of the coldness, but at least we did it.’’
Doyle said afterwards they celebrate with a coffee and talk about how tough they are.
‘‘It’s a nice wee challenge and no-one can back out because they’ll get a hard time from everybody else.’’
‘‘I would say each year it gets harder, but we are all tough old guys – we’re all over 40, we’re mature – and probably should know better, but we keep going back for more.’’
The wives and kids think they are nuts, he said.
‘‘Coming out you’ve got to be quite careful because basically your body is almost frozen and, especially your lower body, it’s almost like a burning ache where it knows its been shocked and you feel like your tendons have become frozen chewing gum,’’ Doyle said.
‘‘It’s always rewarding to get out, to know you’ve done it.
‘‘You get out, dry off, look at each other and say ‘that wasn’t so bad, we should do that again’.’’