The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is holding their annual New Year's Day swim tomorrow. It's open to all lunatics, so start 2011 right with a bracing dip in the Atlantic ocean. (But be careful!) There's no fee for swimmers, but the club encourages everyone to make a donation to Camp Sunshine, a year round retreat for children with life-threatening illnesses. more ›

While most avoided the winter elements this weekend, the Polar Bear Club headed to the beach. NY1 reports that the group took an icy cold dip in the Atlantic on Sunday morning, just after the city was pummeled with a ton of snow. From November through April they're out there every Sunday, also raising money for New York Cares and Camp Sunshine. Polar Bear Club VP Tony Nastro said, "There's an energy that comes from the people that do this, that just makes you feel you're in the right place, you're doing the right thing." They'll be out there again soon for their annual New Year's Day plunge. more ›

If you're enjoying the gorgeous weather along the Hudson today and are wondering why the bodies you're spotting are not just floating today, it's the annual Great Hudson River Swim. Brave swimmers are making their way on a 1.3 mile shot down the Hudson that starts out at Christopher Street and finishes up at Battery Park City. Some New Yorkers naturally have their doubts—one asked the News, "It's New York City, how clean can it be?" But the News reports that it's "cleaner than you think" and anyway, what's a little Dysentery between friends? The real concerns for swimmers are actually not sanitary ones, but the potentially rough current and cool temperature of the water. NYC Swim's official site says you can expect the Hudson to be around 55 to 60 degrees. A previous participant told the paper, "It's colder than the Caribbean, but you're not going to be in that long." The city's site also warns of "chop, shipping traffic and random jetsam and flotsam in the waterways," which might explain why our arms seemed to glitter after a mid-90s dip up by the George Washington Bridge. more ›

Yesterday the Chinese Winter Swimming Delegation met up with the Coney Island Polar Bears for a little swim, the first international dip for the locals. The group was contacted by the Chinese swimmers when they heard they were the oldest winter bathing club in the States, and asked if they would host them. One big difference: the out-of-towners are real deal cold water swimmers, who do long swims year round. However, one Polar Bear who expected for their guests to swim laps around them said, "They hit the water and were out in a matter of minutes. Maybe under 5? And the CIPBC stayed in for their usual 10 minutes." more ›

Yesterday afternoon, as the air temperature was around the 20-degree mark, the Polar Bear Club celebrated New Year's Day in their traditional style: in the freezing cold waters off Coney Island. TIME Magazine takes a look at the tradition and talked to the club's head honcho. They note that the annual plunge has been going on since 1903, and that this year, nearly 700 were expected to take a dip while thousands watched from land. more ›

Undoubtedly 2009 will only bring more drama to Coney Island, and the Save Coney Island Coalition is calling for a New Year's Day rally in an effort to get things moving in their direction. The group will meet noon this Thursday at the memorial shrine on the gates of the now dismantled Astroland Park, and they ask that you "bring photos, drawings, letters, poems, flowers to add to the shrine." Hmm, wasn't that shrine just stolen? Anyway, they also suggest you make your own protest signs or download one here. Meanwhile, one Coney institution that is still around and can't be bulldozed by Thor is the Polar Bear Club! And they'll be out in force on the 1st, taking their first dip of the year at around 1 p.m. You can donate money to their Freezin' for a Reason fund, which goes to benefit Camp Sunshine. more ›

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. more ›

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. more ›

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... more ›

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 do this" more ›

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.

"The information is sketchy. I don't know how it could happen. I don't know how he could sustain such a serious accident. I would like to find out how."

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 the first time in more than a century that the club has cancelled a swim. Meanwhile, the News also reports that the real polar bears in the Central Park Zoo were largely unaffected by the warm weather. more ›

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 described the water he dove into as shallow and Seneviruten was treated by paramedics on the beach. I more ›

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. more ›

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? more ›