‘And I can imagine everyone just wants to get dry and warmed up afterwards,’ I said.
‘Exactly.’
Spotting a small gap by the railings, I took my place and Jed leaned against me as we scanned the participants, seeking out our favourite outfits. There were several who weren’t dressed up but it seemed that the majority had thrown themselves into it fully. A seaside theme proved popular with pirates, mermaids, sailors and sea creatures as well as a group dressed in Victorian-style long bathing costumes, the men sporting handlebar moustaches. Alongside them was a mishmash of ideas – nuns, showgirls, superheroes, animals and clowns.
‘Urgh! I hate clowns,’ the woman beside me muttered to her female companion. ‘Every year I come down hoping there won’t be any and every year they’re here. I’m going to have nightmares tonight.’
‘Do you know who won the fancy dress?’ I asked her.
‘Not a clown, thank God!’ She rolled her eyes at me. ‘The octopus won first prize.’
I could see why. The octopus was purple with orange spots on it and the person inside it was operating several of the tentacles. Whoever had made that costume had gone to some serious effort and I hoped it survived the dip.
‘Humpty Dumpty came second,’ her companion said, ‘and the guy in the old-fashioned diving costume was third.’
As she said that, I spotted them both and was so impressed with the creativity, especially from Humpty Dumpty sitting on his wall, although I couldn’t imagine he’d get very far into the sea dressed like that.
Before long, the Bay Radio host led the onlookers in a ten-second countdown and I glanced at Jed, who smiled back at me as we both shouted along with the crowd. I wasreally enjoying myself and I was so glad for Jed that we’d stuck with our plans because he was clearly loving it too. I could imagine him focusing right now on happy memories of doing the Boxing Day dip with his dad rather than painful ones of having his son taken away from him.
A klaxon sounded and a cheer erupted from the onlookers as the participants ran down the rest of the slipway into the sea. We weren’t close enough for me to see their facial expressions but there was no missing the squeals as they entered the cold water. Some braved a full-on plunge whereas others took tentative steps.
‘Is it a race?’ I asked Jed, noticing several people swimming at pace further into the harbour.
‘Sort of. The main point is to get sponsorship. Half the money raised goes to the RNLI and the other half to a different local charity each year. Some of the entrants do little more than submerge their shoulders. Look! A few have given up already.’
Sure enough, there were a handful of people already making their way back up the slipway and eagerly grabbing hold of towels.
‘Some splash about a bit,’ he added, and I laughed as the group of men dressed as nuns splashed water at each other. ‘But there’s a buoy where the harbour opens out and those who want to race can do that. There’s a medal for the first one back and it can get pretty competitive which is a shame because, to me, it should really be about the fun and fundraising.’
I spotted the orange buoy and eight or nine swimmers racing towards it. The RNLI’s inshore lifeboat was poised for action nearby and there were several other crew members and lifeguards on the slipway.
‘It’s going to be tight for the win,’ I said. ‘Three clear frontrunners now.’
‘Or should that be frontswimmers?’ Jed said which had me, clown-hater and her friend all groaning.
The three fastest swimmers made it to the buoy and the one in third position was closing the gap. As they rounded the buoy, returning towards the shore, they swam into front place. I had no idea who any of them were but it was exciting to watch.
There was a shout and it seemed the person in third place was now in trouble, flailing in the water. The leader stopped and swam back to them, raising their hand in the air as they supported the struggling swimmer. Moments later, the inshore lifeboat raced to their aid, hauling them both out of the sea before speeding off past the harbour walls. Presumably they were taking them directly to the lifeboat station as there were too many people still in the water to allow them to approach the slipway safely.
Clown-hater tutted loudly. ‘Well, that’s put a dampener on things.’
I kept my eyes forward, not wanting to make eye contact with her as I didn’t support her reaction. Yes, it was a shame there’d been an incident but it wasn’t like the swimmer had deliberately put themselves in danger. She could be a little more charitable when she didn’t know what had happened. It could have been something life-threateningly serious like a cardiac arrest although my guess was an attack of cramp, which was much more common when swimming in cold water. They’d likely be frustrated with themselves for dropping out of the race and embarrassed at having a cramping episode in front of hundreds of people, even though it could happen to anyone.
‘Want to stay any longer?’ Jed asked me.
I shook my head. The race had been won and most swimmers were out of the water now or close to the slipway so there didn’t seem to be much point insticking around.
‘Do you think the winner was aware of what was happening behind them?’ I said as we set off back along the seafront.
‘There’s no way they could’ve missed the swimmer in front of them turning back. I think they saw their opportunity for a win and went for it, which isn’t exactly in the spirit of a fundraising event.’
We heard the winner of the race being announced but there didn’t seem to be much of a reaction from the crowd, indicating that they might have drawn the same conclusion.
‘What next?’ I asked Jed.
‘There’s a raft race at noon, then a five-a-side football final on the beach at one, a few stalls and a couple of other activities.’
He explained that each football team represented different businesses in South Bay – workers or owners of the arcades, shops, pubs, cafés, a team of fishermen and a team from the RNLI. There’d been a league running across December and the final this year was fishermen versus arcades. Neither of us were particularly bothered about watching the football but I was interested in the raft race so we decided to check out the stalls set up outside the lifeboat station before that began and go for lunch afterwards.
