Happy New Year! I’m dumb.

It all started on Friday, December 30th, in the distant year of 2011. During a lunch with friends, the conversation drifted toward jumping into Lake Michigan on New Year’s Day. After letting everyone know this was a bad idea, I agreed that I would go and document the event.

Later that night I changed my mind and decided to join my friends. The rest is pretty much history.

Even though I was jumping, I still brought my camera with the hopes of trying to document parts of the plunge. Luckily one of our friends brought a camera, so I could focus on taking a few shots before the jump and then just focus on staying alive during and after the event.

The weather on Sunday morning was around 30F with winds about 27mph. The moment I dove and my head went under water, the only thing going through my mind was “Fuck, fuck, fuck. Cold. Run.”

The photos Carrie shot, the last two, show me right before the dive (middle back) and me running back to get my sandals (because they fell off mid-run). Once I finally got a towel on, I was able to focus a bit better. With each piece of clothing that went back on, I was able to relax bit more.

Would I do this again? Yes. Was it crazy? Yes. It was a lot of fun and a good way to celebrate the year. The only thing I didn’t expect was the amount of sand I would have to deal with later.

Thanks again to Carrie Sloan for the photographs of us jumping in the water.