On a dark winter’s morning, perhaps the last thing you would want to do is go for a swim in Hobart’s icy River Derwent.
But for 3,000 brave souls, that’s exactly what they did this morning as they dashed into the sea to mark the shortest day of the year — and naked nonetheless.
In its 11th iteration, this year’s annual winter solstice swim saw people gathered on the shore of Hobart’s Long Beach as local drummers marked the approaching sun rise at 7:42am.
According to the weather bureau, waters were around 12 degrees Celsius — 5C warmer than outside temperatures.
But it was once the red flares went off, signalling go time, that the towels were dropped and sounds of fear and delight could be heard as people rushed into the water.
Neighbours Nell Smit, Margaret Clougher and Pip Swan are nude swim loyalists, and have attended every event since it began more than a decade ago.
Margaret who turns 95 years old next week, said she comes back every year for her “fan club”.
“It’s invigorating, you don’t do this everyday. We do swim regularly but it’s a little different when the bathers are off,” Pip said.
Some swimmers came prepared like Lawrence Watts, who made sure to pack some hot water to ease the chill.
“I do swim [here] a few days a week and always come out with hot water to pour over [myself] to keep warm.”
He said his brain cancer diagnosis spurred him on.
“I only did it this time because I don’t know how many more years I have left because of the cancer, so I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll come join these guys,'” he said.
It’s not just locals who take part in the swim, but people from across the country including Sydney couple Greg Edwards and Deb Shearman, who ditched their gear for the first time.
“We wanted to go back to Tassie and I just happened to see it, never thought about doing it before so we said, ‘Let’s do it’,” Greg said.
“Just being part of this massive [group] all going into the water, it’s just something you’ve never experienced before.”
The swim also inspired a group of friends from Melbourne to join in, dressed in red lobster onesies after seeing a group of frogs from previous years.
“It was like, ‘where are the frogs, where are they?’ And then as soon as we saw them we were like yes!” Rhonda Johnson said.
“We found each other, it was great.”
Dark Mofo cancelled this year — sort of
Despite the cancellation of the popular Dark Mofo midwinter festival this year, an agreement with the state government was made to ensure two staples of the event — the Winter Feast and Nude Solstice Swim — still went ahead.
The swim usually marks the end of the two-week midwinter festival, but things have looked a bit different this year with the event mostly cancelled due to “rising costs and changing conditions”.
Dark Mofo’s artistic director Chris Twite made the announcement last year, but said at the time the festival would make a “full return in 2025”.
The nude swim, which was first proposed in 2013, drew the ire of Tasmania Police who threatened to arrest the 300 people who had registered and charge them with public indecency.
But it is a far cry from the event nowadays, which attracts a loyal following who look forward to the swim every year and those adventurous enough to give it a go for the first time.
To meet additional demand, this year’s swim saw an extra 1,000 spots allocated, meaning a record 3,000 red-capped people braved the cold to take part in the annual ritual.
“With a festival of reduced scale it was really important to involve as many people as we can,” Dark Mofo executive producer Melissa Edwards said.
“Working with Surf Live Saving Tasmania we were able to expand the event [and] we’re so happy to be able to do it for the community.
“I think the solstice is an important moment for many people, it’s about the beginning of a new cycle and a new moment in time and I think that’s what brings a lot of people here.”
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