Comments on: Peter Pantages and the Polar Bear Swim

By: james hourston

james hourston — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 01:11:56 +0000

First of all hats off to the Pantages family. The Polar Bear Swim has cured many a hangover through the years. At least its still with us. RIP. The Sun Salmon Derby, The Sea Festival, Nanaimo to Vancouver Bath Tub race, The PNE Parade and a few more that I know other readers will remember.
Dearest to my family was the Sun Salmon Derby where Hourston Glasscraft boats were prizes. The bigger the fish the longer the boat.
My father as Director of Fisheries , Oceans was a judge. A DFO patrol boat would cross into US waters and take us to Horseshoe Bay where the judging was. I helped count boats on the way which were in the hundreds. At H-Bay we hung out on the Crombies (then the Suns owners, )Yacht. Then home to Pt Roberts.

By: Angus McIntyre

Angus McIntyre — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 00:08:36 +0000

Back in the 1970s I signed a DAVIE bus route shift for a sunny New Year’s Day. I started in the late morning, and was startled on the first trip to the West End from downtown to find huge crowds waiting for the bus, and soon I filled up completely and was passing up. I thought the bus in front was missing, until I heard a passenger say: “I don’t think it’s too cold a day for a swim”. Only then did I remember that it was the annual Polar Bear Swim.

By: Brad Williams

Brad Williams — Sat, 26 Dec 2020 22:59:33 +0000

I remember my mom talking about the Pantages family. Bet the water was cleaner 100 years ago, but just as cold. I think I started to get interested in this event after a French man invented the bikini. I think a few will still be down there on January 1st, good luck to them.