If you're looking for tips on how to survive, and possibly even enjoy, this Sunday's Polar Plunge, Richard Foss is the person to advise you – he's done all 10.
If you're looking for tips on how to survive, and possibly even enjoy, this Sunday's Polar Plunge, Richard Foss is the person to advise you – he's done all 10.
Held anually at Grey Dam outside Grahamstown on the Winter Solstice, 21 June, the idea behind the Polar Plunge is to look ahead from midwinter to the increasingly longer days ahead, and the return of warmth and sunlight.
Participants line up on the bank while founder and organiser George Euvrard addresses the participants briefly.
The words, "into the light!" are the signal for the swimmers – usuall anything between 50 and 100 in number – to plunge into the water for a 40-metre swim to the exit point near the braai stands.
"I've done every one – crazily enough," Foss told Grocott's Mail as the mercury plummeted on Wednesday.
"The only way I can do it is to go for a run beforehand to warm me up," he said.
"And I would recommend that a first-timer either does a run, or goes for a brisk walk prior to doing it. It's a lot more doable when you've woken up your system than just getting out of a warm car."
The other important advice he has is bring warm clothes – "really warm clothes" – to put on afterwards.
"It's really cold in the dam and you'll need to warm up quickly when you get out," he said.
To help with that, PG Glass will be on hand giving out steaming cups of hot chocolate to swimmers, as well as collecting for their PG Cares project.
For the past 10 years, the Grahamstown branch of the franchise has served as a collection point for warm winter clothing and blankets during the months of May, June and July.
They collect and store "anything warm – beanies, jerseys, jackets. There are incredibly poor people out there who are grateful for anything the public can offer," says PG Glass's, Tim Dold.
The items are distributed through NGOs and churches to communities as far afield as Alexandria and Fort Beaufort. As organiser Euvrard tells participants, "You will be very cold for a few minutes. There are people in our community who are cold all winter."
The event started 11 years ago, he said, as a way of "celebrating life and giving it hell".
Richard Foss says he loves the ritual of it.
"Also it's an out-of-the-ordinary social event. It brings a lot of Grahamstonians together."
He likes the fact that, occuring as it does on the Winter Solstice, it's a nod to the connection between people and their environment.
"I'm very grateful to George for reviving an ancient tradition and bringing it into the Grahamstown context in a way that is so appropriate," he said.
When swimmers hit the water at 7.30am on Sunday 21 June, it will be properly cold.
Emile Fox, from East Cape Pools, went out last week and tested the temperature at the edge of the dam. It was around 11C.
"Out there in the middle of the dam it will be closer to nine degrees," Fox said.
For more information about the swim call George Euvrard at 082 921 2699.
For more information about winter donations, visit PG Glass in Bathurst Street or chat to staff at the Dam next Sunday.
And don't forget to bring an extra blanket!
