The seed sown by the family Hamersma 13 years ago already has strong roots. This could be seen this Wednesday when at noon (actually, two minutes before), and without the Dutch owners of the company Vino&Co intervening, hundreds of people dived into the beach of Ses Salines. The Hamersma’s, through a communiqué, announced a couple of days ago that “the event of the first swim of the year” was this year “officially cancelled by Vino&Co”, after more than a decade of organizing it.
For reasons beyond their control, they did not have “the necessary permission to install the tables” and offer their traditional wine invitation to bathers. The Natural Park of ses Salines had denied it and although they appealed to the Consistory, there was little the Consistory could do about it: “The rules are the rules, and we respect them”the Hamersma said, although they are confident that they will have “the cooperation” of the authorities next year “to organize the event in compliance with all legal requirements”. That communiqué contained a final sentence that was fulfilled this January 1: “The first bath of the year has already become a tradition dear to everyone, beyond our initiative”.
And so it happened. At 11:57 a.m., a certain amount of water began to agitation on the beach. The congregation, who, in an incessant trickle, began to arrive an hour earlier and to place on the sand their sarongs, towels and bags loaded with champagne and drinks, headed to the stretch of coast located between the Malibu and Jockey beach bars. A minute later, suddenly, and although there were two minutes to noon (which was when the Hamersma, loudspeaker in hand, traditionally started the countdown), began the massive dive, a gregarious movement that pushed everyone into the water, some with swimsuits, others naked.
Thus a tradition established in 2012when for the first time the Hammersma, along with a handful of friends, bathed in ses Salines to celebrate the New Year. This newspaper found them a year later, when there were already half a hundred of them and they had, as they confessed, the purpose of “establishing” this collective bath on the island. On that occasion, after a quick soak, wine, champagne, ossenworst with mustard and oliebollen (fried with flour, apple and raisins, a typical Dutch dish of these dates), served by Jeroen Hamersma and Silvia Schuurman, who by then had been living on the island for 12 years, were waiting for them on the beach.
“This dip has gone out of our hands… for good. We are excited!”
Last year, Bette Hamersma, the daughter of the pioneers, acknowledged its success, but also, in passing, that perhaps it had already become too big an event: “This dip has gotten out of hand…for the best. We’re excited. The idea crazy a decade earlier had already turned into a social phenomenon where they served 300 bottles of Fleur rosé, a Provence wine, and sold dozens of commemorative T-shirts, the proceeds of which went to an NGO.
This January 1 has been confirmed, then, that although the Hammersma are not officially behind, this tradition will possibly continue for the next few years, although there was a moment, during the early hours of the morning, when it seemed that it would pinch. If usually the first dives occur shortly after dawn, this Wednesday it took until 9.28 a.m. (outside temperature, 14 degrees) before Carmen Fernández to test the water. She had arrived there at 9 o’clock, the time she had arranged to meet her companions from a group of walkers to celebrate the first day of the year with a swim. But only she showed up. Seeing that they did not arrive, she said to herself “why not”, what better time than that, when there was only a couple collecting shells, to undress and soak. That’s right, only 70 seconds. And that he had “trained” in Cala Gració: “At first, it costs, but then the pleasure is very strong, it’s worth it”. It is the first time she does it in the 42 years that this Asturian has been living on the island.
With the cell phone in the water
The second of the morning was the Italian Umbertowho went into the water with his cell phone in his hand (and sunglasses on his face) to record a video in which he congratulates the new year to those close to him. As he didn’t like the first attempt, there was a second, and even a third, which he took for granted. It is the umpteenth time he soaks on January 1; he no longer remembers how many since he arrived in Ibiza 33 years ago: “It’s not cold, it regenerates you, try it, get in”. For nothing in the world.
It is on trend to put one’s mobile phone in the water to take a selfie of one’s dip in the water, as was seen later on with other bathers, some of whom even called their families to show them, live and direct, that they were starting 2025 with the water up to their necks.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.