Bare-arsed Aussies brave icy waters for solstice swim

Otago Daily Times

21-06-2025

Swimmers have stripped off and braved brisk Tasmanian waters on the shortest day of the year.
Wearing nothing but red swim caps, 3000 souls took the annual nude sunrise plunge into Hobart's River Derwent to mark the winter solstice on Saturday.
The water temperature was about 13C as the naked pack took to the river at 7.40am, sparking shrieks and anguished yells.
Liz Cannard, who has been travelling around Tasmania for almost four months with her husband, said she was petrified before taking the dip.
"I'm not a strong swimmer and I don't take my gear off for anybody ... so I've ticked off a couple of things today," the Geelong resident said.
Lizzy Nash from Sydney was also in the mood for a bit of carpe diem.
"It's about seizing the moment, seizing life and being inspired," she said.
"This is the sort of thing that motivates you to want to do more and challenge yourself. It was awe-inspiring and I absolutely loved it."
The free swim is part of the Dark Mofo festival and started with just a few hundred participants in 2013.
Melburnian Belinda Chambers has been watching people do it on television for years and decided to work remotely from Tasmania for the festival so she could stay and leave on a high.
"So exhilarating," she said post swim.
"I was nervous but there was this almost primal moment of everyone being together that carries you along, and a sense of pure happiness."
Dark Mofo festival returned to its full pomp in 2025 after running a reduced program in 2024 so it could find a more sustainable financial model.
It has made a name for itself by courting controversy and in 2018 drew the ire of some by installing inverted Christian crosses along Hobart's waterfront.
Festival artistic director Chris Twite said the swim was a tremendous way to bring things to a close.
"The response in 2025 has been incredible," he said.
"The streets of Hobart have come alive with locals and visitors celebrating winter and Dark Mofo again."
University of Queensland psychologists surveyed swimmers in previous years before and after they took the plunge and found a significant boost in feelings of connection.
"People told us about whether they felt pain and pleasure during the swim," Laura Ferris said.
"And those who rated their swim as pleasurable also felt more social connection with the other people around them."
It is an example of people seeking out aversive experiences, such as eating extremely spicy food or watching horror movies.
"This is what psychologists call 'benign masochism'," Dr Ferris said.
That could be the optimal term for expeditioners at Australia's four Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research stations, who also celebrated the solstice with a much-colder traditional plunge.
At the three Antarctic stations, a hole is cut in the sea ice each year and expeditioners have a quick dip in the sub-zero waters.
"The shock is closely followed by a rush, which is quickly followed by a scramble to the ladder to get the hell out of that water," Mawson Station leader Dave Roberts said.
"Ironically, the water is warmer than the wind chill, so it's all a bit confusing but totally worth it."
Those on the sub-Antarctic base at Macquarie Island have it mildly easier for their beach swims, with temperatures hovering from 2C to 4C.
A shared meal and the exchanging of gifts and awards round out expedition festivities for the solstice, which is historically the most important day on the Australian Antarctic calendar.
"It's the soul of the Antarctic winter," Casey Station leader Andy Warton said.