Brrrrr-ragging rights

On New Year’s Day, men and women across the nation will grab a cold one -- a winter dip in the ocean. Tom McGann, treasurer of the 100-year-old Coney Island Polar Bear Club in Brooklyn, N.Y., expects the water temperature to be about 40 degrees, but the air temperature is the great unknown. The club adheres to “winter dip” rules: bathing suits only, no wetsuits. And you have to get wet up to your neck, then join hands in a circle of other “dippers” and give a big whoop before running toward the nearest cup of hot cocoa. Participating in this ice-a-thon won’t make you an official Polar Bear; you need a dozen dips between November and April. Show up around 12:15 p.m. for the 1 p.m. plunge at the boardwalk by the aquarium in Brooklyn; if you miss it, the Polar Bears are there every Sunday at 1 p.m. E-mail ice man@winterbathers.com or call (718) 356-7741.

In San Pedro, things are more laid back with the Cabrillo Beach Polar Bears, says 81-year-old Ray Falk, who has been president for 23 years. Hundreds will take the plunge at Cabrillo Beach, where the water temperature may be in the mid-50s. Do those who swim icy waters have it tougher? “It’s all relative,” says the man who has swum frigid Alaskan waters. “It’s a matter of mind over matter.... You just think, ‘It’s going to be warm and I’m going to enjoy this.’ ” Meet at Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse, 3800 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro; call (310) 548-7554. Other sites: The Dolphin Club in San Francisco embarks on a members-only 1.4-mile swim to Alcatraz Island on New Year’s morning. And the Venice Penguin Swim Club sponsors a winter swim at noon. Swimmers competing for king and queen Penguin awards swim about 500 yards. Meet on the beach at the end of Venice Boulevard. Call (310) 390-5700.