Dan Edgar, founder of the Polar Bear Club, and formerly of Hampton, is living in North Carolina and was not around to get the annual event together this year, according to his younger brother, Mike Edgar, 15, of Hampton.

"Lack of interest," Mike said as the reason for not continuing the seven-year tradition. "It was mostly his buddies. Dan is now living in North Carolina. He’s not doing it any more."

Dan Edgar returned a phone call for comment, but could not be reached for an interview by press time.

Mike Edgar, who took the plunge a couple of times, said he was "kind of bummed out" the plunge wasn’t happening this year, "but not too sad. It was pretty painful."

Edgar’s mother, Kathy Edgar, also jumped in one year. That was enough.

"The worst part is the sand," she said. "It’s like standing on ice. The sand was colder than the water."

Five people participated in the first Polar Bear Plunge in 1997, when the temperature was only 17 degrees, Edgar told the Portsmouth Herald in 2001. Conveniently, Edgar had a friend living across the street, so after the dip the bears dashed to his friend’s cave for warmth.

"Our feet left footprints across the road, which froze," he said.

In subsequent years, Edgar’s Polar Bear Club included more than a dozen willing participants. Most people who turned out in front of the Sea Shell Stage at Hampton Beach at noon on New Year’s Day were there to watch, rather than participate.

For the bears, the one rule was that the whole body had to go underwater.

The club took the dip for the fun of it. A Penguin Plunge held at Hampton Beach annually in February benefits the Special Olympics.