1991 Hailed With Dip in Frigid Bay : Revelry: Hardy bunch braves numbing 47-degree waters to celebrate the New Year with a swim from Alcatraz.

It brought Seattle to its knees and laid waste to vast groves of navel oranges.

But like some bizarre new intoxicant, the arctic cold that grips much of California compelled 40 people here Tuesday to throw off their woolen gloves and hats, strip almost to the bone, and leap into frigid San Francisco Bay.

That’s not all. Wearing nothing but swim caps, goggles and the skimpiest of racing suits, they raced for a mile and a quarter, swimming from Alcatraz in the middle of the bay to Aquatic Park near Fisherman’s Wharf.

After about 35 minutes swimming in the 47-degree water, John Selmer took wobbly steps toward shore, and an animal sound welled up from deep in his throat. The sound finally took form in one word: “Coooold.”

The swim is an annual New Year’s Day event of San Francisco’s Dolphin Swim and Boat Club and the South End Rowing Club. But this year, the water was colder than anyone could remember. Making it all the more interesting, the tide was high and the ebb current was particularly strong.

The swimmers agreed that 50 degrees was acceptable. Every degree below that took its toll. Some even confided that it might be a little too cold.

However, wet suits are “frowned upon,” said Selmer, 45, who works on computers in the Silicon Valley when he’s not swimming the bay. “It’s not really a challenge to do it in a wet suit.”

The question remains: Why, when most people are moving slowly, and in some cases quietly, or watching football, would anyone want to run the risk of hypothermia, not to mention drowning?

“It feels great when it stops,” said swimmer Russ Morison, 46.

It is not the sort of thing anyone should try cold. By way of comparison, a cold shower might be 65 degrees. People who make this swim think it’s great sport to swim in San Francisco Bay, and they do it regularly.

This year, realizing that the current would be unusually strong and the water colder than usual, the swimmers had to qualify by proving they could make it. Ten who thought about making the swim did not qualify.

The morning began with final warnings about the treachery of it all. Then they boarded the water taxi Ailine Elizabeth for the ride to Alcatraz. Dozens of spotter boats positioned themselves. Cormorants that nest on the cliffs of the Rock scattered.

Joe Ferrero, 26, a management consultant from Hermosa Beach, had spent New Year’s Eve in a pub, drinking a few beers, “building up the carbohydrates” for the swim.

One reason for making the trip up from Hermosa Beach was to prove that Southern Californians are not “wimpy; we can swim in cold water, too.” Besides, anyone who is used to the waves off Hermosa Beach would find the bay to be calm. As he saw it--before jumping in--”cold is only a frame of mind.”

As they waited on the Ailine Elizabeth for the signal to get wet, some swimmers stared at the water. Others limbered up, or passed around Vaseline, but that was only to prevent chafing.

“It doesn’t do anything for the cold,” said John Nakamura, 34, an attorney who was on the USC swim team in the 1970s.

Suzanne Heim, 32, a special education teacher from Marin and a well-known distance swimmer, sat inside the boat bundled in wool gloves, thick socks and heavy coat. “I like warm,” she said. But she also makes a practice of swimming in cold water. She has crossed the English Channel three times, but that is warmer by several degrees than San Francisco Bay in January.

“It is,” she said, “a different definition of fun.”

Just past the peak of the high tide, at 11:14 a.m., the appointed time came. The swimmers plunged in, some with looks of steely determination, others cursing their questionable judgment.

Deckhand Jim Willis and Capt. Bob Keller were at a loss to explain the odd ritual. “I got more brains than that,” Keller, a member of the Dolphin Club, said as he piloted the Ailine Elizabeth to the pier.

Heim had been favored to win the race. But Liam Hennessy, 27, a textile salesman, won by a few feet, finishing in just over 30 minutes.

After spending that amount of time in 47-degree water, tendons contract. Jaws tighten. Bodies numb. As the numbness leaves, people feel as if they are being slapped. They have a very hard time talking.

“I may not look great but I feel great,” Hennessy said, excusing himself quickly. Others followed him to the showers and sauna.