The sight of bikinis in the dead of winter might be enough to sent a shiver down your spine, but for members of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, the colder the better.

The 100-plus members of this exclusive club say that they plunge into the icy Atlantic on a regular basis for a variety of reasons including the health benefits, the camaraderie, the thrill, and yes, the bragging rights.

Louis Scarcella, president of the club for the past three years, does it for the thrill. “We always suffer from hypothermia, but I couldn’t care about what anyone says,” said Mr. Scarcella.“You just have to be able to deal with the cold.”

Some like Tom McGann, a vice president at the Bank of New York, have been cold water swimming since 1990; Mr. McGann who has two teenage sons considers this his private time. “A lot of members say that this is my time,” he said. “This is my free time.”

Like many of the members Mr. McGann, 50, is also an athlete. He has hiked Pike’s Peak and run a number of triathlons. “It makes me feel younger, it makes my skin feel good, I’m with nature, I’m a polar bear, there’s not too many people who are polar bear members,” he said [PULL QUOTE].

Not surprisingly all of his family, friends, and co-workers know about his off beat hobby.
“Everyone other than my insurance agent knows about it,” he said.

And it is more a hobby than a sport, club members say. The Polar Bears don’t actually swim, they walk out onto the beach, warm up with jumping jacks and stretches, and run into the ocean together screaming and splashing. Once in the water they continue to scream and splash. After two or three minutes they emerge from the waters, change and leave.

However, there are other members who say that there are health benefits.. Mr. Scarcella, who is in his 60’s , said that he has not gotten sick since he began coldwater swimming. “It boosts the immune system, and it tightens the skin, it’s good for my skin,” he says..

Klaus Kurzina, 68, said that he joined after being plagued by a severe bout of pneumonia, and flu. Mr. Kurzina said that a doctor suggested he cure his health problems with cold showers. “Apparently if you take a cold shower everyday you get an immunity boost that no one else can give you,” Mr. Kurzina says..

After discovering that the cold showers were working, Mr. Kurzina wanted to try more, so last December he called the Polar Bear Club. He had heard about the club through their famous New Year’s Eve swims that are widely covered by the media. “I thought those freaks, how could they do that, but I wanted to see how far I could go in cold weather,” he says.

Mr. Kurzina said the initial dip literally took his breath away.

“I really felt very, very cold. I said what did I get myself into now, it was the biggest shock in my life,” he says. “To tell you the truth, each time I went, I was always afraid because the temperature went lower and lower.”

Mr. Kurzina was hooked and he claims that since becoming a polar bear his ailments have gone away. Mr. Kurzina, an adventure traveler who spent thirty years working in places such as Hong Kong and Vietnam, said he has yet to tell his immediate family about his hobby. His friends know and think he’s crazy. “They know me as a sophisticated gentleman who is more on the intellectual side, but they admire the courage and guts,” he said.

Oscar Abolafia, who has been coldwater swimming for 14 years, said that it was also a lot less expensive than other adventure hobbies. “I really did it because I wanted to challenge my body, it’s like people who do downhill skiing,” he said.