"Polar Bears" Take Frigid Holiday Plunge in Sea Isle

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Karli Brayerton was wearing only a bathing suit and a cap when she peered out at the ocean and wondered just how cold the water was on a brisk February afternoon. “Um, it’s got to be pretty cold. Maybe 20 degrees,” she said as she let out a nervous laugh and pretended to shiver. Actually, the ocean temperature was 38 degrees on Saturday, but it was still chilly enough to feel like a swarm of bees stinging the body. Karli, her father, Charlie Brayerton, and her best friend, Emileigh Zane, briefly joked about having second thoughts about their agreement to charge into the surf together, but moments later they took the plunge. “It was so cold I can’t feel my feet,” Karli said after emerging from the water and immediately wrapping herself in a towel. Altogether, hundreds of daredevils lining the beaches of Sea Isle City jumped into the ocean on the Saturday of Presidents Day weekend to carry on the madcap tradition known as the Polar Bear Plunge – unofficially, at least. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2JhNBD6gvk (Video of "polar bears" taking a frigid dip). A new city policy barring privately run events such as the Polar Bear Plunge from being held on local streets, municipal parking lots and public property put an end to the official celebration this year. The city said the plunge and the thousands of people who turned out each year for the spectacle simply put too much strain on the police and Public Work departments and also exposed Sea Isle to potential liability lawsuits if someone were injured or killed. However, that didn’t stop smaller groups of self-styled polar bears from staging their own unofficial plunges Saturday to highlight the holiday weekend. Karli Brayerton, 22, of Pedricktown, N.J., and Emileigh Zane, 21, of Penns Grove, N.J., have been doing the plunge for five or six years – except in 2021, when the event was canceled during the pandemic – and were determined to keep their tradition alive. This year, they persuaded Karli’s 48-year-old father, Charlie, to join in the craziness. Right around noon, clad only in bathing suits, all three ran into the frigid ocean – and ran back out just as quickly. “It’s so cold,” Emileigh exclaimed. Molly Burke, left, and her best friend, Annalee Hennessy, check out the fairy wings for their plunge outfits. Two other plungers, Molly Burke, of Clarksburg, N.J., and her best friend, Annalee Hennessy, of Mullica Hill, N.J., attached fairy wings to their bathing suits to give their outfits a comical touch. Both 17 years old, they have been participating in winter plunges in Sea Isle and Wildwood for the past five years and wanted to keep their streak intact. Molly jumped into the waves, emerging from the surf completely soaked and shivering from the extreme cold. “Oh, my God,” Molly said while rushing back to the beach. “It was way, way too cold.” Annalee said that her toes were “tingling” in the chilly water. One group of about a dozen plungers huddled up on the beach and chanted “Sea Isle! Sea Isle!” to get ready for their dip. They ran in together, but not everyone was brave enough to dive underwater. Over the years, the Polar Bear Plunge has been the centerpiece of a holiday weekend of partying, dining and shopping that awakens Sea Isle from its winter hibernation and gives local merchants an economic boost in the middle of February. A group of plungers rush out of the water to escape the cold waves. Thousands of visitors and second homeowners typically flock to Sea Isle over Presidents Day weekend for a winter getaway at the shore. Although this weekend didn’t have the official plunge and the enormous crowds normally associated with it, the town still had plenty of visitors in the bars, restaurants and shops. Don Amon and his wife, Debbie, joined Don’s sister, Eileen, and her husband, James Lewis, for beers at the Ocean Drive bar. They sat under a tent at the Ocean Drive’s outdoor venue, the Sandbar. “We’re making the rounds. We’re here until the young kids show up,” James Lewis joked of the members of their group, all of whom are in their 60s. Don and Debbie Amon live in Glassboro, N.J. Each year, they join James and Eileen Lewis at their Sea Isle home for a family gathering over the Presidents Day weekend. “There’s always a big group,” Don said. “It’s always our big kickoff for summer,” Eileen added. Although Eileen clearly was looking ahead on the calendar, her group was also planning to have some winter fun. After their stop at the Ocean Drive, they were heading to the beach for their own impromptu plunge. From left, Don and Debbie Amon and Eileen and James Lewis share some beers at the Sandbar. Outside the bars and restaurants, there was also a party atmosphere. People roamed the downtown business district, hitting the shops in search of special Presidents Day weekend bargains. Three friends from Pennsylvania, Barb Reinhardt, Kate Galdo and one woman who would only identify herself as “J-9,” were clad in polar bear-style caps while enjoying a full day of activities. “We’ve been doing this for 15 years,” Reinhardt said of their Presidents Day weekend getaways in Sea Isle. “We shop, we eat, we drink and we plunge. It’s our happy place.” From left, Pennsylvania friends Barb Reinhardt, "J-9" and Kate Galdo do some shopping downtown while wearing some polar bear-style caps. The sidewalk is crowded outside the Ocean Drive bar on Landis Avenue. Plungers charge down the beach before hitting the water.