Wild Swimming with 'Ye Amphibious Ancients Bathing Association' est 1884

This is for the hotties!
A test of bravery, Not of potential death, but certain pain.
I was living in Scotland and joined the 'phibbies', an open water, or 'wild', swimming club.
Okay - think 7 degree water, and your next task is to dive into it.
Let me paint the picture.
It was an overcast and summery 11 degrees at Broughty Ferry Castle, at the mouth of the Firth of Tay and the North Sea. Castles on the sea have harbours, box like extentions of the castle into the sea.
So there I was, having climbed down a well worn cold iron ladder, facing the sea, a few centimetres below my protesting feet.
The advice was to breathe out, keep breathing, and keep moving.
Breathe in, dive in, Bang Zoom and WTF!!!! surface and breathe out. AMAZING GRACE!! I'm sure that thinking about breathing and moving took my mind off the pain. I'm several metres into the harbour and moving forward, realising why swimmers in Scotland don't put their heads in the water - it's too painful.
A few minutes later, my body becomes numb with pain. This is a good thing - the pain has been replaced with numbness, no pain here.
Next thing I'm surprised to find that I'm starting to feel warm. My skin feels warm, I can put my head in the water and look around a bit.
Ha Ha !! This feels good.
And so we swam, I built up enough fitness for a 2nd place and a trophy for wild swimming in Scotland.
I'm looking at it now. My cup runneth over with medals!
I'm going back there again for more cold water adventures.
Being a scientific sort of guy, I like that this sort of swimming squeezes ALL of the blood out of your muscles, including Lactic Acid. I also like that cold adaptation is very good for the cardiovascular system.
To continue... hypothermia is an adventurous activity.
I climbed out after 45 mins of swimming, and started talking to the coach. I felt okay, but was thinking I should maybe start rugging up. There I was in my smugglers, in a hot and sunny 11 degree overcast scottish day.
I had a shower - too painful! Got dressed, said 'see you next week' got in the car, and made the obligatory stop at the fish and chip shop.
Let's cut to the chase, the cure for hypothermia is warm air respiration. For most of us, sadly me included, this means getting in the car and turning on the heater. In a more fantastic world it would be mouth to mouth with a hottie!
... in oz I have a lot of cold showers. being hot in oz is a given.
diving into cold water has extended my life, in my opinion.
Am I close to your reality? Tell me about your amazing little adventure.