Okanagan Lake Dip Challenge VIII

Okanagan Lake Dip Challenge Week VIII

November 28, 2014, Tug Boat Beach, Lake Okanagan, BC

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Before the dip…

My daughter (Tabitha, age 14), sister (Miranda) and I began our 12 week challenge on Thanksgiving Day 2014. Our challenge is to take a dip in the lake, once a week, until the New Year 2015.

We were fortunate to have CBC West profile our challenge during an interview with me last week on their afternoon radio show with Rebecca Zanbergen. The publicity inspired Peter (my partner and Tabitha’s dad) to support us in our 8th dip. Peter was very brave as he chose to dip on our coldest challenge day so far. He was very macho about the whole thing, as you will see on the video (the three of us regular dippers huddle under towels on a blanket immediately after leaving the water to prevent instant hypothermia, but Peter stands seemingling oblivious to the cold). Our cries (the result of frozen, painful extremities) were so pitiful that our most courageous and youngest member (Tabitha) generously covered us with her blanket (as you will see in the video below).

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After the dip…the pain.

The 8th dip was the coldest so far. I optimistically say in the video that we are 3/4 though the challenge. Sigh—I got ahead of myself, this dip marks 2/3 of the way through the challenge. Week VIII was a windy, cold -11 degrees Celsius (with the windchill). We dipped on Friday afternoon because one of us is lucky enough to be in France at this moment (Miranda) and would have missed her flight if we’d dipped on Saturday.

Check out our 8th dip in the video below:

httpv://youtu.be/i5q3bjkB6Po

I hope you follow along on our quest to raise awareness of the precious Canadian water systems. I’ve included an invitation to the Blue Dot movement, for those who want to contribute by ensuring clean Canadian water now and in the future.

Feel free to check out Week I or Week II or Week III or Week IV or Week V or Week VI or WeekVII of our Okanagan Lake Challenge.

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Tabitha takes pity on her crying mother and auntie. Peter’s pretending to be macho about the whole thing but in reality his limbs have seized with cold and he cannot move.

We’re Okanagan Lake Dipping for two reasons:

1. Raise awareness of how valuable Canadian water is to us. We want our fellow Canadians to write their government leaders to make sure Canadian waters remain protected from human pollution and greed. 50% of the oxygen we breath comes from the ocean yet only 3% of Canadian Pacific waters are protected. Furthermore, Canadian freshwater lakes are at risk of turning into mine tailing dumping grounds. Every Canadian citizen has a voice. Let the Canadian government hear our voices on issues regarding our water. Our quest requires no money, simply action.

*Start with the mayor of your city. Write a letter to your mayor, ask your municipality to decree all it’s residents the right to clean water and clean air.

2. A personal challenge to keep life edgy and interesting.

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