Taking a winter dip along Toronto's shoreline 

Toronto Sun
February 2, 2014
By Terry Davidson

For 13-year-old David Gendelman, taking a February dip off Toronto’s frozen shoreline isn’t a big deal.

After all, David, a student at Thornhill Woods Public School, has been doing this along with his father, Natan Gendelman, for the last five years.

The elder Gendelman, who runs a clinic for children suffering with disabilities caused by strokes, cerebral palsy and other brain injuries, is a staunch proponent of polar bear plunges, extolling what he calls health benefits of the bone-chillng activity.

The Thornhill family, which moved to Canada from Russia 17 years ago, met with the media Sunday on the snow-covered Lake Ontario shoreline of Colonel Sam Smith Park in Etobicoke.

“Cold water increases the blood flow in the body,” said Gendelman, who acknowledged the threat of hypothermia means no one can stay in the water too long.

A flat chunk of ice floated around the spot where Gendelman finished his dip for the day.

Gendelman, who wears only a Speedo bathing suit, usually takes five quick, separate dips into the water before calling it a day. He dries off, gets dressed, and sips hot tea out of a Thermos.

Environment Canada meteorologist David Rodgers said the water on Sunday would have been around 3C.

According to Health Canada, staying in frigid water can result in hypothermia, a condition where the body’s temperature lowers in stages causing shivering, numbness, confusion and difficulty speaking and thinking. If enough time passes, a person’s breathing and pulse will decrease, and death soon follows.