You saw in a recent post that we continued our New Year’s tradition with a running dip into the cool winter waters of Vancouver’s English Bay.

Here, I thought I’d bring you some footage and photos of the wild and woolly antics. The interesting thing is that, on this particular occasion in Vancouver, strangers don’t behave like strangers with one another. I know none of the people in these photos, but they happily mugged for the camera – like this fellow:

This creative bagpiper drew more than a bit of a crowd as we waited for the countdown to race down to the waters.

Fortunately, someone who goes by the YouTube handle of DeerLakor did a great job of catching the action from water’s edge and shared the clip below.  You’ll see the same bagpiper (really; would there ever be more than one?) strolling in and out of the water, and a lot of chilly people having fun!

Here are some more of the people who rang the new year in with a splash!

… and some more. Post-swim, there were the makings of a really good dance party on the beach. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather bump into the man with the chicken hat than any clown, any day.

This Viking was more friendly than ferocious, and there were also swimmers in cute costumes. While I’m pretty happy with my modest collection of six badges, that’s nothing compared to some of the swimmers. Check out the bathrobe of the swimmer below!