Hardy Southerners brave wintry surf at annual dip

Briana Campbell, Elle Rolfe and Jazmin Campbell made the plunge to help the St Clair Surf Lifesaving Club. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Bleak weather and a move to Middle Beach failed to dampen the spirits of swimmers at the Polar Plunge in Dunedin yesterday.

St Clair Surf Lifesaving Club chairman Anthony Mason said 600 people swam in the annual event.

"Which ironically is more than you get at any one time over summer."

Most swimmers stayed in the water for about five minutes but a few had a 20-minute frolic, he said.

The change of location due to seawall damage at St Clair Esplanade had made the event easier to run because the stalls were sheltered behind the sand dunes from the gusty onshore easterly wind.

"If we'd been on the Esplanade the wind would have been howling. It would have been awful."

The club collected about $1000 in donations yesterday, which was less than usual for the event.

He hoped it would return to St Clair Beach next year because that was a better beach for fundraising.

At the Polar Plunge starting line hula girls huddled and people in pyjamas waited for a wintry wake up.

Miner Mike Cowie, of Dunedin, said he finished a night shift underground yesterday morning before he emerged in a pink tooth fairy costume for the plunge.

St Hilda's Collegiate School pupils also wore pink to support principal Melissa Bell in her fight against cancer.