They could not “tolerate” doing so.
The annual ‘Polar Bears’ on New Year’s Day that swam off Coney Island was officially canceled on Friday, but that did not stop several hundred renowned hardliners from pulling on their bathing suits and taking the plunge.
“A lot of the things I normally do every year have been canceled – the Mermaid Parade, baseball, all the sts we normally do are traditional,” said Chris Geiger, 45, who traveled from Glendale in the 50s. Fahrenheit Atlantic jumped. .
“I said, ‘I don’t care. We’re going to do it. It will be fast. We will be safe, ” Geiger said.
‘It’s actually safer than it ever was. Normally it is so packed that you can not even walk on the beach. It is nice. It is much better than normal. ”
The Coney Island Polar Bear Club announced in November that it had to cancel the event due to the coronavirus problem, and the 200 to 300 people who took the dive had no permit and violated city rules prohibiting swimming without a lifeguard.
Yet they maintained social distance and spread their icy balls over a few blocks and a few hours.
“It was breathtaking,” Rachael Pollina, 39, of Ridgewood, told The Post.
‘I think we just knew we were going to do it anyway, because we love it, and if we cancel it, it’s less than a crowd. So I think it’s safer. ”
Organizers usually dipped thousands of people as thousands of people watched.
But on Friday, only about 200 spectators stood along the promenade or walked out on the sand to see the secluded event.
Among them was a trio of NYPD officers, one of whom picked up when asked about the apparent violation of rules for non-swimming. When a Post reporter pressed: ‘The crowd is too big? You can not arrest everyone? ‘, Replied the policeman,’ Exactly. ‘
Dennis Thomas, president of the Polar Bears Club, especially missed that he slept for the first New Year’s Day in thirty years.
“It’s a big tradition in New York, started in 1903,” said Thomas, 65.
“And some people go on, no matter what,” he added. “But next year we’re bigger than ever.”
On a typical New Year, more than 3,000 people go swimming fast while 10,000 people watch, he said.
A 35-year-old rapper from Coney Island, named Gorilla Nems, calls the annual rite a ‘baptism’.
‘The polar bears can’t do it officially because of coronavirus, so we’re here to show that we’re strong in New York, and no matter what obstacles come our way, we can overcome them. We persevere through it, because that’s what we are. We are New Yorkers. ”
A 21-year-old rapper from Flatbush, who goes to Dances, agrees.
‘We have to leave 2020 behind. It was a difficult year, but you know how it is – with the old, with the new, ‘he said.
“We are New Yorkers, we are back. And we owe it to the people who could not come here – some who passed away last year and were annual members – to come and do it. ”
Emmett McElory, 19, of New Milford, NJ, would not let COVID get in the way of an annual family tradition.
“It’s very different this year, not a huge crowd,” he said. “But after what we went through in 2020, it’s hopefully a better start to a better year.”