Brrr Dept: New Year's Day Ocean Dip

You're not feeling chilly, are you?

Most people, come the first day of the new year, don't go outside for much. Sometimes the paper will even sit on the front steps all day. Often the curtains remain drawn.

How many Champagne refills did I have again? Oh right.

Then you have the Surf City Splash brigade. These are the live-life-large people who voluntarily strip to their skivvies and join, in spirit, thousands of other people around the globe who run into various bodies of water on Jan. 1. Just because, we'll add. Just because.

There are some asterisks to that "just because," of course; often the teeth-chattery event is held to raise money for charity, as the Huntington Beach dip will be doing. The SightFirst Foundation, and several other local organizations, will benefit from the day.

But ask a lot of the in-then-out swimmers why they do it, and a lot of their answers would have to do with starting the new year in a big way. A big, brrr-filled way, to be sure.

Everything goes down at noon on Jan. 1, 2011 at the Huntington Beach Pier. You can just show up to watch, as the people on the pier in the photo above are doing. People in coats, we'll add.

Plungers, you continue to amaze and impress. Just make sure you have a friend with a Thermos of hot coffee nearby. A large towel, too. And a warm bath at home.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
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