SPLASHDOWN

MAT-SU — When Chuck Kaplan’s wife tells him to go jump in the lake, he doesn’t argue.

Dressed as the Big Bad Wolf, Kaplan did a lot of huffing and puffing before and after plunging into an icy cold Finger Lake on Saturday.

“I’m the Big Bad Wolf and I ain’t a-scared of nuthin’!” he said prior to the start of the sixth annual Polar Plunge at the Palmer Elks Lodge.

Husband of Wasilla Senior Center Executive Director Sondra Kaplan, Chuck brought a van filled with seniors to watch as he and another 69 brave enough — or insane enough — jumped into a large hole cut from the lake’s covering of ice.

“We made a day of it,” he said, adding taking a little dip in the lake should be easy. “I’ve jumped in the Arctic Ocean before up at Prudhoe Bay — on purpose.”

Besides, along with the Sertoma Club and Mat-Su Health Services, the senior center benefits from the more that $20,000 raised by the event, he said.

“I’m a good husband, I do as I’m told,” he said. “I was told I was going to jump, and do you know a married guy who wouldn’t if he was told to?”

Apparently, that guy would be Valley resident Fred Bowers, who stayed warm while videotaping fianceé Sandra Groller as she leaped into the lake.

Asked why he didn’t jump with his significant other, Bowers said, “Because my daddy raised an ugly child and not a stupid one. Her mommy raised a pretty girl, but not so (darn) smart.”

Conditions were ideal for plunging, said Paula Nance, president of the Sertoma Club, which took over organization of the event for this year. It was the first major fund-raiser for the group, which formed last June.

“We had the opportunity to be involved and took it,” she said. “It was organized by individuals in the past, and it seemed appropriate to associate (the Polar Plunge) with a service organization. Many hands make light work.”

Along with a robust 70 plungers, Mother Nature provided a balmy afternoon in the 40s without wind — far from last year’s event held in freezing temperatures with 50 mph winds.

“Oh my gosh, this weather is just incredible,” Nance said. “It doesn’t get any better. I haven’t jumped before, but my honey-pie is jumping several times today.”

The mild temperatures brought a robust crowd of about 350 to watch the Polar Plunge. One of those was Dorothy Boese, a resident at the Wasilla Senior Center, who stopped short of saying that anyone who volunteers to jump into frigid water has a few screws loose.

“Well, I don’t know if they’re nuts, but it’s certainly entertaining,” she said. “If I were younger, maybe I’d jump too.”

At 11, Miles Durand was one of the youngest to take the plunge on Saturday. Before jumping, he thought the experience would be “fun, exhilarating and exciting.”

After emerging from the water, Durand was singing a different tune.

“Well, at first you get this cold feeling that just goes into you and it burns,” he said. “It’s really, really cold, like, it’s really fun, but really cold.”

As veteran plungers, Bobbie Rawcliffe and Colleen Huston were part of a six-person team representing Alaska USA Mortgage.

“We’ve done this before, but this is our first time doing it here (at the Valley event),” Rawcliffe said before describing the pair’s elaborate costuming. “We’re belly dancers.”

Once a person hits the water, though, there’s not much dancing, she said.

“Then, it’s just survival at that point,” Rawcliffe said.

“Don’t take a deep breath (when entering the water), because your body’s natural reaction is to inhale,” Huston added. “When you try to get out it’s like swimming in Jell-O.”

For Wasilla police Sgt. Jean Achee, being told to go jump in the lake is one of many occupational hazards. But it wasn’t until Saturday he happily complied on behalf of the department’s employee association.

“I haven’t jumped intentionally, but I’ve gone in unintentionally before,” he said. “People have asked us to jump in the lake before, so we finally did it. They got their wish come true.”

Nikki Lee, who gathered pledges in behalf of MTA and United Way Mat-Su, recalls taking a chilly bath last year.

“Oh my gosh, it was terrible last year,” she said. “It was freezing, the wind was blowing, it was cold and miserable. Today, it’s beautiful. People are nuts not to be jumping in the freezing cold water today.”

The shock after diving into the lake is more pronounced for some, like Nicole Ezzo, who managed to describe the experience through chattering teeth.

“Death, death,” she said, adding after a few minutes of warming up that, “Oh yeah, I’ll do it again.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.