Former White Center Chamber of Commerce President Mark Ufkes is leader of the Polar Bear swim as he calls it, (though not many people actually swim) on January 1 at Alki Beach.

"The Polar Bear swim every January 1 is a great way to wash away the complexities of 2013, and celebrate the unlimited potential that 2014 brings to our lives," said Ufkes.

The West Seattle/White Center Polar Bear Club will be hosting the 2014 Polar Bear Swim on Wednesday, January 1, 2014. The 400 plus Polar Bear swimmers will all hold hands, in a long line on Alki Beach, and after a count down, will enter Puget Sound promptly at 10 am. We will meet at 9:45 am across from Dukes Restaurant. Holding hands makes it easier for everyone to enter the 46 degree water. Swimmers should bring water shoes, a towel, a change of clothes and enthusiasm and excitement for 2014.

If you have never done it...check out the video of the event from 2012. It's VERY brief, and by all accounts exhilarating...just in case you wanted to make this time, this coming Jan. 1, the year to do it.