Swimming for Polar Bears (or Swimming Like One)

It was a cold, crisp morning. We gathered at Kitakomatsu station, which was situated near the west coast of Lake Biwa, 35 min on the JR limited express from Kyoto. It was a perfect day for the outdoors. From the train, I could see the snow covered peaks of Mt Ibuki on the far side of the lake and its reflection of the blue surface of the water. The sky was partially covered by clouds, but not the gray threatening variety. It was going to be a fine day.

There were ten hikers on this day (17^th March 2007). Some of us were going to swim in the lake later, some will be watching and giving moral support and some still undecided on whether to take the plunge into the cold water. This hike is the warming up activity for the swim. Lisa and Josh had come up with a new idea for activities in winter. I do not know who thought of it first but swimming in winter seems to be a perfectly fun thing to do. And so they recruited swimmers and decided to do this fun event in the name of charity, where all donations go to the Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org/) to protect endangered species like polar bears. And since we were swimming in cold water, just like polar bears do, we decided to call this charity event “Swimming for Polar Bears”.

We started off the hike around 10 am, heading towards a steep road going up to the Hira Mountains. We were aiming for Yakeyama（ヤケ山）, a low hill at a height of 705 m. On the way to the top, we visited Yamamomo no taki ( 楊梅の滝) or Red bayberry waterfalls. It was actually two waterfalls, a smaller one (female) downstream and a larger one (male) upstream. The male waterfall (雄滝)was impressive, the river fell 40 m vertically. The trail was not difficult, until we climbed much higher. Snow that fell a week ago remained and as we went higher, hills and forests were blanketed by a white layer of icy snow. We had to be careful stepping on the snow, although it was not very deep, slipping on the snow may result in a nasty fall. Walking in the snow was soothing and relaxing, this was not a popular trail and there weren’t many other hikers (we met a few young college guys running up the trail). We could see Lake Biwa below us and the snowcapped Shaka dake (釈迦岳) in front of us. It took us a little less than two hours to reach the top of Yakeyama. The wind was chilly and the top was mostly low shrubs. We decided to go down the valley besides the hill to take shelter from the cold wind. We had lunch at a depression on the slope, where it was relatively warm and free from wind. At this point Suri and Meetal , husband and wife, were debating whether to join us in the swim. Meetal got really excited and proclaimed “I’m going to bet all of you that I will stay the longest in the water!” while her husband looked on at her with eyes wide opened.

“Suri, will you join us?” asked Josh.

“Errmm, yeah, sure” answered Suri.

The rest of us cheered on.

“Don’t worry it’ll be fun!”

“Welcome to the team!”

We hiked back down the hill and walked to Omi-maiko station from Kitakomatsu in less than an hour. We were staying at a minshuku called Kihachi. (http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~sen­o-s/) The minshuku was situated right in front of lake. There was a small stretch of shallow beach. It was the perfect spot for swimming---- in summer. We are doing it in winter this time, many of us had our sanity questioned by friends and colleagues when we told them about our event. But the sense of challenge and adventure overcame our common sense. We were all ready to do it and we had supporters to boost our morale. My colleague, Saito san, brought a box of heated coffee cans for the swimmers. He was apparently so impressed by our courage that he had to see it for himself. The swim was to start at 4 pm, when we won’t get the full benefit of the warm mid-day sun. Unfortunately, one of our swimmers, Will, was delayed by the train, as strong seasonal winds often blow across the lake and trains may stop as a safety precaution. He finally arrived at 4.45pm. By that time all the swimmers were raring to go, all of us simply can’t wait to get in the water (and out of the water as soon as possible). Any later, the sky will turn dark and it will be impossible to swim.

Peter Jinnai was the time keeper, and Keiko noted the time for each swimmer and Mauricio was taking photos while Mayumi together with Saito san and Shinbayashi san — both my colleagues — were the audience.

The swimmers lined up on the beach for the photo op, the swimmers were – Marcus, Josh, Lisa, Suri, Meetal, Will, Junko, Zane and me! We were all doing our best to look as if we were enjoying it and giving our biggest smiles. In fact, the wind was freezing cold and we really were shivering to our bones. With a yell, we charged (or tiptoed) into the water. The water was cold! I have never swum in freezing cold water and the sudden temperature change numbed my senses completely. I felt as if my limbs no longer existed. I could only make sure they were still there after seeing that the water was being splashed around by my arms, desperately trying to keep me afloat. Later, I was swimming hard in the water, hoping that I would generate heat to fight against the cold.

I could see that Junko and Zane were also trying to keep afloat. Will was shivering in the water, but still he was shouting “I’m not cold!” Josh, Lisa and Marcus were swimming further away from shore. Meetal just stayed at the same spot in the water, while Suri was already swimming closer and closer towards shore. I almost wanted to follow Suri’s lead to float slowly back to shore. But, I caught myself from doing that. I thought of the amount of money that people had pledged to donate. I told myself that I will stay at least one minute. I certainly didn’t want to disappoint my friends and colleagues who had pledged so generously.

At forty-five seconds, Suri was already coming out of the water. I was tempted to follow him but I resisted.

At one minute, I found that I had adjusted to the cold. It seems to have become much more bearable now. Maybe I could stay ten minutes in the water?

At two minutes, everything seemed fine. I was doing laps in the water and found it not so different from a normal swim.

At three minutes, I saw that Josh, Lisa and Marcus were swimming towards a floating buoy far away from the shore. I was really surprised, I thought of following them, but finally gave up the idea.

At four minutes, I found that my swimming was slowing down and I became very aware of the cold. My body was feeling a tingling sensation that was gradually spreading all over.

At five minutes, I decided to call it quits. It was getting uncomfortable in the water and I didn’t want to do permanent damage to myself.

I quickly swam back to shore and stood up on the beach. I smiled and waved at the camera triumphantly. Junko was also coming out of the water while the rest were still braving the cold water.

Ouch! It hurts just to stand on the sand barefooted. I felt as if a million needles had punctured my skin. I looked at my body and it was reddened as if sunburnt.

Brrrrr! The cold wind felt like it had a thousand knives slashing my body. I grabbed my towel and ran back into the minshuku, jumped right into the hot water bath and jumped right out again! The water was too hot for my sensitized skin and it felt like I jumped into boiling water. Eventually I was able to get into the bath after some cooling down.

Zane and Will joined me in the hot bath a few minutes later, followed by Josh. Josh had measured the water temperature when he came on shore. It was a frigid eight degrees Celsius.

Finally Marcus joined us in the hot bath. Marcus mentioned that he was impressed by Meetal who stayed with him and Lisa until the last moment. Meetal stayed true to her claim of staying the longest in the water. She managed to stay about ten minutes in the water, a huge accomplishment for a first timer.

Everyone stayed in the hot tub until we felt warm enough. When everyone was out and sat around the table enjoying our hot drinks and sharing the funny moments during the swim, I realized that Meetal was missing. As I was asking around about her whereabouts, Junko provided that answer helpfully, “She’s still in the bathtub!” Meetal not only stayed the longest in the cold water but in the hot water too!