Fearless Brownies take swim in Boston Harbor

By Rachana Rathi, Globe staff

About 500 people braved bone chilling cold and savage winds to take a morning dip in Boston Harbor on New Year's Day, a 104-year-old tradition for the L Street Brownies.

"I'm never doing that again," said Steve Sheerin, 43, of Maynard, to his childhood friend Eric Kondo, 43, of Lexington, who laughed from his wheelchair. Kondo had convinced Sheerin to take the plunge -- and to carry Kondo along on Sheerin's back.

"I always thought complete morons would do this," said Sheerin with an ear-to-ear grin, "and I still believe only complete morons do this."

But neither a snow storm or New Year's Eve revelry stopped more people from participating in the long-standing tradition than ever before, said Freddy Ahern, director of the Curley Community Center in South Boston, which hosts the event. About two dozen men swim in the water every morning -- they claim it makes the immune system stronger -- but it's only on New Year's Day that people from the neighborhood, and as far away as Springfield and New Jersey, join them.

"This was the coldest one in the last five years, but we had more swimmers than we ever had," Ahern said. "It was the perfect backdrop -- snow on the ground and sun out."

The event attracts daredevils of all ages.

South Boston-resident Haley Dillon, 14, a veteran of four swims, convinced her little brother to join her in the water for the first time.

"I like to take risks," Haley said, as the siblings stood shivering indoors after the swim, numb feet wrapped in towels.

Springfield schoolteacher Burt Freedman's been taking the risk for 22 years.

"It's my way of celebrating New Year's," said Freedman, 62. "It's a challenge. After you go through all that pain, it's invigorating."

Dunking her head in the water was a challenge Melissa Lockman, 36, of Jamaica Plain, welcomed after the economic meltdown, terrorism and suffering of 2008.

"I needed some gusto to plunge into the new year after all the gloomy news this fall," Lockman said. "It's a great tradition that feels very South Boston -- some people were passing out vitamin C, while other were passing around flasks."

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