Dec. 21, 2022 to Mar. 21, 2023
Multiple atmospheric rivers brought heavy rains, severe floods, and damaging winds to the Bay Area in the winter of 2022-2023. Temperatures and overall weather conditions throughout the 2022-2023 Polar Bear season have not been seen since the 80’s. This season had a record breaking 35 days where combined air and water temperatures were under 100, while usually we recorded only 10-15 days in the past. Coldest combined temperatures were 89.8 on 2/23. The coldest water temp was recorded on 2/16 at 51.3. Another record was 17 straight days of under 100.
The temperature and weather conditions may have created extra challenge for the 300 dolphin swimmers who attempted this season’s Polar Bear, but still 162 swimmers were able to finish, many for the first time. In this season, Chris Wagner is the first swimmer to pass the 40-mile mark on January 7th, 2023, and Oliver Fader is the first to get to 100 miles on February 16th, 2023.
In honor of Joe Illick, who was unable to finish his miles due to his passing away, many swimmers donated some of their miles to his final tally. Rest in peace, Joe.
While we remember the challenges, and highs and lows of the 2022-23 Polar Bear season, the 2023-2024 season will mark the 50th anniversary of this club tradition, which we shall look forward to with celebrations, festivities, and a little bit of madness not unfamiliar to Dolphin members.
Index First Name Last Name # of miles Virgin/Old Goat? PB Notes
1 Oliver Fader 190 100 on 2/16
2 Joe Illick 167 includes all donated miles
3 Rick Perez 111
4 Rich Roth 111 V
5 Chris Wagner 111 OG 40 on 1/7
6 Thomas Neill 101 OG
7 Cesar Manzano 90
8 Christophe Crombez 85.5 V
9 Mamoun Alassouli 80.5 V
10 Randy Edwards 80.5
11 Peter Cullinan 76 OG
12 Joe Spallone 65.75
13 Kati Hopman 64
14 Neal Powers 62.5 OG
15 Michael Thoresen 62 OG
16 Chris Igo 60 V
17 Claire Perry 60
18 John Stassen 60
19 Bianca Liederer 58.5
20 Michael Tschantz-Hann 56.5
21 Ryan Hedum 55 V
22 Ian McColl 55 V
23 Renzo Sereni 54 OG
24 Alice Ma 53.5 SERC member
25 Pejmun Haghighi 53
26 Eric Reed 52.5 V
27 Thorsten Anderson 52.25
28 Daniel Handler 52
29 John Ottesberg 52 OG
30 Tatyana Ovcharova 51.5
31 Jason Shaeffer 51 V
32 Kamran Ataba 50.5
33 Lisa Domitrovich 50.5 OG
34 Eliana Agudelo 50
35 Fasica Alemayehu 50
36 Steve Carlson 50 5th PB in a row
37 Lawrence Remstedt 50
38 Jamie Robinson 50 OG
39 Bobby Tandler 50 OG
40 Ted Tilles 50
41 Caius Vannouhuys 50
42 John Gibbon 48
43 Pieter Kruit 48
44 Cort Eidem 47.5 V
45 Jim Barron 47
46 David O’Reilly 46.5
47 Kalani Leifer 46.25
48 Morgan Kulla 46 OG
49 John Mervin 45
50 Arnie Oji 44.75 OG
51 Gary Arabatyan 44
52 Tony Payne 44
53 Natazha Raine O’Connor 44 OG
54 Beth Stein 44 OG
55 Carter Seddon 43.5
56 Johan Duramy 43 V
57 Jeffrey Wagner 43 first full polar bear
58 Jonathan DePriest 42.75
59 Amanda Ernzer 42.75
60 Sean McFadden 42.5
61 Joey Murphy 42.25
62 Ryan Dalton 42
63 Maria Sereni 42
64 Egon Terplan 42
65 Juan Zinser Lopez 41.75
66 Jeff Citron 41.5 OG + V
67 Larry Scroggins 41.25 OG
68 Alex Buehlmann 41
69 Karin Christenson 41
70 Kathleen Duffy 41 OG
71 Vince Huang 41 OG 45 Consecutive PB
72 Kerry LaBelle 41
73 Sean Lavelle 41
74 Lauren Lesyna 41
75 Tim Melano 41
76 Wafaa Sabil 41
77 Rebecca Tilley 41
78 Nihan Tiryaki 41
79 Rosa Zapatero 41
80 Joni Beemsterboer 40.5 OG
81 Pia Hinckle 40.5
82 Catherine Singstad 40.5 V
83 Elaine Van Vleck 40.5
84 Tom Brown 40.25
85 Sean Badessa 40
86 Peter Bostelmann 40
87 Eric Boyle 40 V
88 Andrew Braithwaite 40
89 Eileen Buckley 40
90 Michael Caniglia 40
91 Charlie Cross 40 OG
92 Jim Frew 40
93 Joe Gannon 40 OG
94 Erin Gasser 40
95 Mark Harrold 40
96 David Holscher 40 OG
97 Gavin Jefferies 40
98 Bobby Lu 40
99 Tor Lundgren 40
100 Sunny McKee 40 OG
101 Camila Pesce 40
102 Derrick Rebello 40
103 Holly Reed 40 OG
104 Jeff Russell 40
105 Dan Ryan 40 V
106 Julian Sapirstein 40 OG
107 Philip Scarborough 40
108 Christy Simpson 40 V
109 Ben Springwater 40
110 Noah Springwater 40
111 Mike Walsh 40
112 Ken Miller 35.5 OG
113 Gabriella Cross 34 OG
114 Joe Mannion 31.75 OG
115 Duke Dahlin 30 OG
116 Kate Matthay 29 OG
117 Julie Marcus 28.5 OG
118 George Robin 27.5 OG
119 Brian Johnson 27 OG
120 Mickey Lavelle 27 OG
121 Bill Burke 26.5 OG
122 Diane Campbell 26.5 OG
123 Keith Howell 26 OG
124 Lolly Lewis 25 OG
125 Kent Myers 25 OG
126 Naphtali Offen 25 OG
127 Lee Smithson 24.5 OG
128 Stu Gannes 24 OG
129 Steve Hanson 24 OG
130 Elizabeth Ozer 24 OG
131 Wolf Richter 24 OG
132 Denise Dugan 23.75 OG
133 Sal Balistreri 23 OG
134 Dorian Dunne 22 OG + V
135 Nancy Lange 22 OG
136 Andy Stone 22 OG
137 Anne Hamersky 21.5 OG
138 Peter Neubauer 21.5 OG
139 Krist Jake 21.25 OG
140 Jon Nakamura 21.25 OG
141 Daragh Powers 21.25 OG
142 Lindsay Casablanca 21 OG
143 Terry Huwe 21 OG
144 Sergei Khorochev 21 OG
145 Michaelynn Meyers 21 OG
146 Rudeen Monte 21 OG
147 Rory Enke 20.5 OG
148 Tom McGraw 20.5 OG
149 Joanne Sakai 20.5 OG + V
150 Kevin Shanahan 20.5 OG
151 Matt Leffers 20.25 OG
152 John Dugan 20 OG
153 Elspeth Farmer 20 OG + V
154 Sue Garfield 20 OG
155 Marlin Gilbert 20 OG
156 Terry Horn 20 OG
157 John Hornor 20 OG
158 Heidi Howell 20 OG
159 Aniko Kurczinak 20 OG
160 Kevin McAlea 20 OG
161 Will Powning 20 OG
162 Deb Sullivan 20 OG