7 minute read
Cold Hands, Warm Hearts
BY MARINA SACHT
It’s a grey November day, and the wind is blowing bitterly cold across the ocean, kicking up a mixed chop. It’s 8:30 a.m. on a Sunday, but assembled at the beach are over a dozen people. The water temperature today at Transfer Beach reads eight degrees. They drop their coats and walk into the ocean.
The screams of terror and squeals you’d expect don’t materialize. Instead, there’s the sound of laughter, relaxed conversation between friends.
The swimmers are part of the Transfer Beach Dippers: individuals who have found benefit in cold water immersion. From health benefits to comradeship, there are many reasons that cold-water dipping has been embraced by the community. There’s 275 members on the TBD Facebook group, with many others practicing privately.
Maryse Morgan started two months ago. “I really wanted to show myself that I can do hard things. And so that’s what I tell myself the whole time I’m driving down here in my car. Yeah, I can do it. I can do it.” She laughs.
The reward afterwards? “Invigorated. Alive. Accomplished. I feel great.”
Leesa Poffenroth was inspired a few years ago by Wim Hof, a motivational speaker and extreme athlete known for withstanding low temperatures. “Some of my coldest dips have been around Squamish in the mountains with the icy runoff, and yeah, it’s fresh,” she says. But after a time, you become acclimatized. “It is so good physiologically, mentally, emotionally.”
Science backs her up with evidence that exposure to cold speeds up metabolism, reduces inflammation, swelling, and sore muscles. Other benefits experienced by dippers include improved quality of sleep, focus, and immune response (www.wimhofmethod.com/).
When Susan Woodhouse’s family said she wouldn’t last a month, she proved them wrong. It’s been over a year. “I come for health benefits and it makes me feel good. Although the other day I was saying to somebody, is it the health or is it just sort of the self-satisfaction of meeting a challenge?”
Shannon Patrick started because a loved one was having severe depression and she’d heard that dipping helped improve mental health. “So, we started coming down here, and then I ran into all these ladies and I just have kept doing it,” says Patrick, who has been dipping for two years and has seen improvements in her arthritis and immune system.
And while there are more women in the group, men are embracing the cold as well.
“I’m a sucker for punishment,” laughs Dan Charette, who started about two weeks ago, motivated by the potential health benefits. “The hardest part is the first two minutes in the water and getting out of my bed and driving down here. That’s probably the hardest part,” he says.
Wendy Zacharias suffered from migraines for about 20 years. Since she started three years ago, she hasn’t had one since. “I’m happier and I’m more energetic. And the fellowship with all the gals and guys that come, is really important too,” she adds.
Bill Verchere, at 91 years old, has the distinction of being the eldest in the group. He started several years ago, dipping several times a month.
“It just makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something. I’ve done something very few people do.” He recalls as a teenager diving from the tower of what was the Transfer Beach Wharf, one day doing five dives. “Very few people would do that back then, but I took great pride in doing it. This is the same thing. Most people are afraid to do it.”
And maybe doing something that others may consider “crazy” isn’t so silly after all. It’s empowering.
Cheryl Mottishaw, a dipper since 2021 had never been one to go in the water unless it was a warm summer day, so this was very foreign to her. “But everyone was so nice and with all sorts of tips on how to survive the cold water.” She dipped 220 consecutive days, once dipping in Kelowna, Vernon and the Tsawwassen spit, waiting for a ferry so she wouldn’t miss a day.
“I feel the cold water helps my arthritis and achy joints. I have no plans to stop.”
For Linda Borza, dipping has been a life-changing habit. She had recently been in an MVA and was suffering from significant nerve pain. “Cold water dipping helped reduce my depression and distracted me from the pain; and it continues to make me feel so alive and living in the present.”
For those who are reading this and thinking cold-water immersion is just nuts, or those who may be contemplating taking the plunge, put simply: “It’s free every day of the year. It’s fun! After a minute, you can’t feel your skin, and then you get distracted talking to your buddies, forgetting how long you’ve been in,” says Borza. Recommendation is one minute per degree.
Stephanie Steele started the Transfer Beach Dippers with the goal to improve mental health by dipping, and to help our communities. The group collects for local food banks and has donated $1500 to the Ladysmith Resource Centre towards those suffering from mental health and addictions, as well $3,000 to Stz'uminus First Nation to help with families who were affected by the residential schools.
Steele, a registered nurse at Nanaimo Hospital, recalled the stress of working on a designated COVID floor when the pandemic struck in March 2021. “It was the most stressful time of my life.” Worried she’d bring the virus home to her family, and having no one to talk to about her anxiety, she fell into a depression.
One day after a particularly stressful shift, she saw a post of her friend in the ocean. It was February! “She told me it was helping her get through her stressful shifts as an ICU nurse.” She invited Steele to join her.
“On February 25, 2021, I did my first dip. I went into that cold water at Departure Bay with two ICU nurses and a respiratory therapist, and I think that’s why I did it. I felt if my heart stopped, at least I’d be in good hands. The water was so cold, it actually stung my body getting in. It instantly took my breath away, and I remember gasping for air and thinking I need to get out, but I kept concentrating on slowing my breath. Then I realized I wasn’t as cold anymore, and I remember smiling and feeling so alive.” She was hooked.
She started posting about her dipping. “It was a very vulnerable time for me, to post to everyone that I was suffering from depression and that I was struggling, but I thought by posting this, maybe I’d help someone else. The response was overwhelming, and she started the Transfer Beach Dippers Group two days after her first dip. “I dipped consecutively from that first dip for 21 days, then just kept going.”
Fiona Steeves joined Steele, and they met daily and braved the cold water. The group grew from there to 275 members.
Steele finds inspiration in a quote she read: “If we always choose comfort, we never learn the deepest capabilities of our mind and our body.”
“Getting in that water is mentally challenging. Your body feels the cold and your mind tells you, It’s too cold; get out. You can’t do this! But if you tell your mind, I am okay, I am safe and I CAN do this … you absolutely can. I wanted to inspire people to try it, I wanted to help others reap the benefits like I was. You don’t grow in your comfort zone!”
For Steele, dipping wasn’t just about going in the water. “I still hate being cold!” It is about challenging herself every day, to do better, and inspiring others to get out of their heads and finding joy again.
If you decide to try dipping, check with your doctor, listen to your body and always go with a friend. And friends you will find among the Transfer Beach Dippers.
“It’s therapeutic; you’ll get a surge of adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin as well as getting the blue light of the morning sun,” says Borza. “It burns a few calories too, plus you get to meet a bunch of great people, who love water, waves and a good laugh, which we all need!”
