Penguin Swim in Ocean City: The cold never bothered them anyway

Phil Houck always wears the same outfit when he goes in for a dip at the beach: a tux shirt, a bow tie and a pair of black swim trunks.

“It’s the only day I go into the water,” Houck said of the 24th Annual Penguin Swim in Ocean City. The event benefits Atlantic General Hospital.

Houck is the founder of Bull on the Beach, a restaurant just blocks from where the swim is held and the title sponsor of the Penguin Swim. His team was one of many who attended the ritual winter dunk on New Year’s Day.

“Part of the reason it started was because there was nothing to do on New Year’s Day,” Houck said. “You get up at 9 or 10 a.m., then what do you do all day?”

With a wind chill in the teens, most of the hundreds of participating penguins didin't wait for the official 1 p.m. start to plunge into the 39-degree ocean.

It’s Michael Franklin’s favorite moment.

“When everyone is running into the ocean together,” said Franklin, president and CEO of Atlantic General Hospital. “There’s lots of energy, lots of screaming. This is not a day to be normal.”

Mermen (glitter and long flowing white wig included), various superheroes and other funky costumes made an appearance.

Fred Flintstone and Captain America (or as some would know them, Charlie and Gene Hutson from Silver Spring) said the annual swim is tradition.

“It’s a great charity and it makes us remember not to do it again until next year,” Gene said. He added it takes them about one year to forget how cold the water was before signing up for the next one.

The bitter air could be seen and felt everywhere: a man jumped up and down, wide-eyed and repeatedly declaring, “It’s cold!” Another man yelled expletives as he sprinted into the ocean. A little boy looked down at his hands, pink and plump from the ocean.

Joy Stokes, the foundation’s event coordinator, said this may be the coldest swim they’ve had. Indeed, the Dewey Dunk, the Dewey Ball Drop and the Fenwick Freeze were canceled due to frigid winds and subfreezing temperatures.

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But for many of the participants, there was nothing like shocking oneself into the New Year by jumping into freezing cold water on a freezing cold day.

“It’s our annual cleanse,” Kevin O’Malley said. “We figure anything that happens throughout the year can’t be worse than this.”

Four-time participant O’Malley and his brother, five-time participant Ben, said they believe if they can conquer two seconds of shockingly cold water for a good cause, they can conquer anything.

“I feel like all my sins from 2017 have been washed away,” said Mark Dembowski, member of the Bearded Men’s Society of Ocean City. He laughed and added, “We’re repented.”

Robb Dunne, also a member of the Bearded Men’s Society, said he has participated in the past 14 swims for three reasons.

“For one: charity,” Dunne said. “Two: We’re nuts. Three: charity.”

“Time’s the best gift we can give back to the community,” added Dembowski, who has been a penguin for the past 15 years.