Over the past 24 years, Ōpōtiki Lions have seen good crowds at their Polar Swim at Waiotahe Beach. Sunday’s event was no exception.

The bracing plunge, which is run under the watchful eyes of Ōpōtiki Surf Lifesaving Club members, drew 70 people this year, though not all took the trouble to sign up.

“Looking at the rain on Friday and Saturday, I could hardly believe the beautiful day we had for Sunday, but there’s no predicting the weather,” event organiser Mick Sauer said.

“We had 67 swimmers written down in the book but down on the beach I spotted another couple of guys running into the water at the last minute. They told me they enjoyed the swim so much they would be back next year.

“Another chap arrived, rushed onto the beach to join the swimmers and took off again before anyone could talk to him.”

But that was not the case for most of the crowd, who lingered after swimming long enough to munch through 100 sausages and drain two large kettles of hot soup.

Once again, the participants took starting orders from black powder enthusiast Ross Pierson, who fired a mini cannon to signal when the swimmers were to enter and another to leave the water.

The cannons are scaled down replicas of those Captain Cook threw overboard to lighten his ship when crossing the Great Barrier Reef in June 1770.

They were powered by Mr Pierson’s homemade gunpowder recipe. The first blast came agonisingly slowly this year, as two boys strayed ahead of the cannons.

Mr Pierson was reluctant to fire till they had moved out of the way.

They were many metres distant from the car park where the cannons were located. Though they were well up on the sand dunes, Mr Pierson said the deafening roar of the guns carried a long distance and could be frightening for anyone directly in front of them.

The Polar Swim was followed by a beach dig for youngsters present. The Lions chose prizes which aimed to keep the children active, including frisbees, toy gliders and throw balls.

“Even our choice of toys showed what we stand for as a club – we  like to  encourage children to run around and have fun, rather than playing computer games all day,” Mr Sauer said.

“I got to say a few words on the day, and they came naturally. I thanked the Ōpōtiki Surf Lifesaving Club for looking after the swimmers, all the folk who turned out to enjoy themselves and, of course, Mother Nature for supplying such a cracker of a day for us.”