Allen Johnson was one of the first participants to arrive.

Johnson, of Ocean Point, East Boothbay, who is in his 80s, has participated in each of the 13 Penguin Plunge fundraisers for the Boothbay Region YMCA’s second grade swim program. He was greeted near the registration table by event co-director Larry Brown, who was not taking the plunge this year because he was on duty as a Boothbay Harbor police officer.

By 10:45 a.m. on Jan. 1, not many had shed their clothes yet to take the 11 a.m. plunge into the Atlantic Ocean off the Murray Hill Road boat launch in East Boothbay. Some had shown up in shorts and T-shirts, but most of the 25 participants stayed in their head-to-toe clothing until Brown and this year’s official starter Sue Burge gathered the participants at the top of the launch ramp.

When Burge said “Go,” Boothbay Register production employee Mike Marr, who was wearing a GoPro camera to record the event for the newspaper’s website, led the participants into the cold water. The air temperature was around 24 F with a southwest wind between 9 and 12 miles per hour. The water temperature was about 45 F.

Suffice to say, no one sprinted toward their destination. Most just strolled into the water up to their knees, thighs or waist. Johnson and a couple of other perennial participants, Alina Blakesley and Robert Horne, got totally wet. Horne was doing the backstroke for several minutes, like it was an afternoon in July.

“It was definitely warmer going in than coming out,” said participant Chip Griffin, who has done 12 of the Plunge events. “I normally look forward to a southwest wind but not today.”

Griffin also reminisced about the days as a youngster when he and his father, the late Dr. Carl R. Griffin, would take a winter plunge when the family lived near Spruce Point. “We would run barefoot through the snow and back to the house when we were finished.”

“That guy is amazing,” said spectator Paul Tagliabue, former commissioner of the National Football League, of Griffin.

Tagliabue, who has a summer home on Squirrel Island, said he enjoyed the event. “You’ve got participants of all ages here. It’s a great community fundraiser.”

Like always, the event was over in a few minutes. However, Burge lived up to her word and stuck her foot in the water, and Marr went back in the water up to his waist. Maybe he had no feeling left in his lower torso?

“It was invigorating,” said Blakesley. “Better than a bottle of champagne!”