Many hearty souls joined the Welcome to Coney Island Polar Bear Club for the annual New Year's Day dip into the Atlantic. Lucky for us, some Gothamist readers were on the scene and have taken some great photographs. Here are a few. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club's Q&A answers the question, "Are you folks nuts?" with:Not particularly. We're just a group of people from all walks of life who deeply enjoy the activity......

Their day in the sun ocean is just around the corner, but the Polar Bear Club of Coney Island may be in too deep with one donation they recently accepted. The Brooklyn Paper reports that in spite of the club "growling in the anti-Thor procession during the Mermaid Parade," the Polar Bears have "made peace" with Thor. Polar Bears president Lou Scarcella explained that when Thor took condos out of their plans for Coney Island......

This year, the Coney Island Polar Bear Club really heated things up in their online video which features two topless ladies (backs turned to camera)! Will you make the plunge this New Years Day? Register or make a donation (money goes to Camp Sunshine) at Freezin' for a Reason. If you do participate, be warned, the water is usually around 33° degrees when the annual dip is made -- though they say "no member has......

After a man suffered fatal injuries during this New Year's swim, the Coney Island Polar Bear Club has announced it will not be accepting new members. Further, the membership of Bears-in-training (the "Cubs") will be frozen. Polar Bear club president Louie Scarella explained to the Daily News, "I closed the membership just to cut down the number of people in the water. It has broken my heart and the heart of the board to......

A 32 year old journalist who suffered a neck injury during this year's Polar Bear Club New Year's swim died last week. It's unclear how Mohan Seneviratne injured himself; some witnesses believe he hit a sandbar when he dove into the water at Coney Island. amNew York spoke to his father Dr. Upali Seneviratne who said that Seneviratne was initially stable after the severe spinal cord injury, but his "condition deteriorated over a few days.......

What's a polar bear to do when it is 72 in January? Well, if you're a member of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, you stage a silent protest. The Times reports eight members of the club cancelled their Saturday swim, because the water was too warm. Perhaps more interestingly, the News reports it was nine members of the club and the Post says ten! According to Polar Bear Club treasurer Tom McGann, yesterday was......

Most New Year's Day Polar Bear Swims are just wacky fun, but yesterday, a Manhattan man was injured during the swim. Thirty-two year old Mohan Seneviruten suffered a neck injury and is in stable condition at Lutheran Hospital. His father arrived from Connecticut, asking, "What was he doing?" A witness told the Post, "It looked like he just dove head-first into a wave. When he didn't come up, people grabbed him." The Daily News......

And by polar bears, we mean the human Coney Island Polar Bear Club, of course! The intrepid Homo sapiens will be taking their New Year's dip today at 1PM. The Coney Island Polar Bears, who have been around since 1903, has partnered with Camp Sunshine for this year's swim - you can pledge money to the Bears and Camp Sunshine here. The Polar Bears also have a FAQ that answers questions about their habits,......

Looks like hundreds of people showed up for the Polar Bear Club's annual New Year's Day plunge in Coney Island. Great photos can be found in Flickr's ConeyIsland stream, and in photosets by YouCanSleepWhenYou'reDead, HollyP, and LittleBill (who shot the picture above.) The Post reports that the air temperature was in the low 30s-- anyone have a first-hand account of freezing your balls/ta-tas off?......