athletes, each has their own strategy for diving into the frigid waters. you ve got to run in place to get warmed up, and we like to love and hug and kiss and get all warm and fuzzy and then we jump right in. reporter: after a few minutes of psychological gamesmanship, it s time. this army of self-proclaimed polar bears runs towards its nemesis, the ocean. it s a lot better if you dunk your head in really fast. it s like ripping a band-aid off. reporter: another year, another plunge. every day is a new year. yeah! reporter: in coney island, matt cozar, channel 7, eyewitness news. he wins the best outfit. dressed up like a scottish bagpiper. now the polar bear club, it s the oldest winter bathing organization in the u.s. they swim in the atlantic every sunday from november through april. that guy said it best. it s like ripping off a
temperatures, insist on stripping down and jumping into the nearest body of frigid water. never understood this, but yesterday in coney island, one group did it very good reason. here s matt cozar from wnbc. it s a brand new year reporter: if you didn t know it was new year s, you might think it was halloween if you were on the coney island boardwalk. unbelievable experience. reporter: popeye, cleopatra and this guy are here to plunge into the atlantic, part of the coney island polar bear club. the oldest winter bathing group in the country. but this year s annual new year s day swim takes on a special significance after superstorm sandy badly damaged coney island and its famous boardwalk. money raised from the swim will go to a nonprofit called coney recovers. what we re aiming to do with the funds raised today in partnership with the polar bear club is help out not for profits in the area.
reporter: as for these arctic athletes, each has their own strategy for diving into the frigid waters. you ve got to run in place to get warmed up, and we like to love and hug and kiss and get all warm and fuzzy and then we jump right in. reporter: after a few minutes of psychological gamesmanship, it s time. this army of self-proclaimed polar bears runs towards its nemesis, the ocean. it s a lot better if you dunk your head in really fast. it s like ripping a band-aid off. reporter: another year, another plunge. every day is a new year. yeah! reporter: in coney island, matt cozar, channel 7, eyewitness news. he wins the best outfit. dressed up like a scottish bagpiper. now the polar bear club, it s the oldest winter bathing organization in the u.s. they swim in the atlantic every sunday from november through april. that guy said it best. it s like ripping off a band-aid, which i wouldn t want to do either.