@GAREEF , didnt want to rain on the mariner of the month thread, but let me tell you a story of a redneck polar plunge. We have a swimming hole down here, about the 1/2 the size of an Olympic swimming pool, creek fed with a rope swing. Back in the mid 80's my buddy and I decided to swim it one winter. The water was probably in the 40's and it was 30 deg outside. Our girl friends came with us, we stripped down gave our cloths to our ladies and dove in. It was like getting hit by a truck, we swam to the other side and headed to the car that was running with the heater on. I will tell you this, we were in the early stages of hypothermia. My hands were curling up and I was completely numb. the girls hopped in the back and me and my buddy were in the front trying not to die. We were shaking too badly to utter the words "bad mistake". The girls were in the back arguing at this point, then the burning sensation started to over take my body and the shivering was causing me and my buddy to sing some amazon rain forest tribe songs. The whole deal was a mistake, for us, the girls were no longer friends because my buddies girl friend ticked my girlfriend off because she kept staring at me when we stripped down, the plus side is I don't have any desire for polar plunging.