PACIFIC PLUCK: What kind of ocean swimmer are you? Are you an occasional toe-dipper? Do you wade up to your knees, if it is August and if the ambient air temperature has broken three digits? How about on New Year's Day? If you picked the final category, we'll see you in Huntington Beach on Sunday, Jan. 1. That's the scene, and date, of the annual Surf City Splash. If you've never heard of it, you likely know about the famous and frigid Polar Bear Plunges that shiver around the globe on the first day of the year. And while the Pacific Ocean near Huntington Pier is no frosty fjord off Norway, it still takes, shall we say, a brassy attitude to strip down to a bikini, or trunks, and go all the way into the waves in winter.
TIME AND DETAILS: The splash goes down at noon, and even if you don't participate you can still watch (Splashers will be out raising funds for the International Surfing Museum. There's also a pancake breakfast earlier in the day, to help lend a few hearty calories to those hardy souls ready to wade in. (The pancake breakfast stirs up money for various Lion's Club charities.) If you're wondering if you'll be out there on the beach by your lonesome, fear not; "hundreds" of people are said to participate. We salute them, each and every one, and then we look for a warm towel to put around their salty shoulders.
