The perfect day for a dip in the lake

Over 100 people took the frigid plunge into Okanagan Lake Sunday for the ninth annual Polar Bear Dip event hosted by CRIS Adaptive.

It was their first in person event since 2019 because of the pandemic.

Much warmer temperatures than late took some of the icy edge off for the brave swimmers, paddlers, waders, and quick in-and-outers.

On this occasion there was more blue sky than blue skin and CRIS Events Coordinator Stuart Hamilton was stunned by the massive crowd.

“It’s a great turnout. People have decided to come down and a lot of it’s based on the weather,” Hamilton told Kelowna10. “Today is probably the best weather we’ve had in years on January 1st.”

Registered entrants gathered on the shore, awaiting the countdown ahead of the chilly plunge.

On the mark of the announcer the horde rushed into the water whooping and yelling with excitement.

And with the huge turnout came swathes of donations for CRIS.

Hamilton said the last he checked they had raised $15,000, and more fundraising would still be happening.

“Every donation helps a lot, the adaptive equipment that we use for our trips is really costly,” he explained. “We do outdoor recreation activities for people with disabilities of any kind, so based on someone’s individual disability, we can tailor the adaptive equipment to help them do stuff like that.”