She is chilling out — every day.
A Long Beach woman has made it her daily mission to swim in the frigid Atlantic Ocean for 609 straight days — or over a year and eight months.
“It’s warm today!” 51-year-old Mindi Dovberg told The Post Tuesday morning as she dunked her head under the roughly 54-degree Nassau County waters.
After 52 hours in the water, she has no signs of slowing down.
“It resets your day. That’s why I do it in the morning,” she said. “Once I do this, I know I can conquer anything.”
Dovberg, once a varsity swimmer, has gone in waters as cold as 40 degrees during her five-to-10-minute daily ritual.
In 2022, a year after her father died, the still grief-stricken Dovberg took a dip while visiting her Virginia childhood home in Lake Montclair — and said she found swimming in the cold water gave her mental clarity.
“I felt like he was with me,” Dovberg said, a master reiki teacher and author. “I didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew that I loved it.”
She began her once-a-day streak in March 2023.
She waits out lightning but will brave all elements, like torrential rain and winds, to complete her dip.
“I can’t wait for the snow this winter in January and February when it’s really cold,” Dovberg said.
“Last winter,I came out of the water and made a couple of snow angels in my wet bathing suit.”
Dovberg hits the sand wearing warm weather gear before shedding into her bathing suit. She will cut the swim short if feeling excessively cold.
“I try to prolong a hot shower after as long as I can,” said Dovberg, who uses a Fitbit to check her time and core temperature.
Ironically, her most significant safety issue was getting caught in a riptide last summer.
On more peaceful and colder days, Dovberg may see dolphins and whales.
Jumping in head-first
She credits the cold waters for doing wonders for her health.
In 2001, Dovberg was in a car accident resulting in double-digit surgeries on her knees and back. She said she suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, something she called “the absolute pinnacle of pain disorders.”
“I get out of the water, my legs are numb, and I’m not feeling the pain that I was feeling before,” she said, adding that it brought on a better mentality as well.
“I’m single, so even just asking a guy out or going out by myself, little things like that have shifted because of this.”
Still, that doesn’t mean it’s always smooth sailing.
“It will never get easy,” she added. “There are mornings I wake up and don’t want to do it, when my bed is so warm,” she said.
Making a splash
Dovberg’s streak inspired her neighbor, chiropractor Joshua Siegel.
Siegel, 49, said he had her join him on a brisk Wednesday last year after a kidney transplant.
“She was an inspiration,” Siegel, who now does his own plunges, told The Post.
Dovberg also created the Long Beach-based Sunday Splashers in October 2023 to connect with others.
“So many people have to wake up alone on Sunday. I would rather they be here, even if they just bring hot coffee and don’t go in the water,” said Dovberg, who recently celebrated day 600 with the group.
She’s even turned doubters into believers.
“I saw her first going to do it weeks ago and thought, ‘She’s crazy,’” resident Patsy R. said while passing by Dovberg on the Long Beach boardwalk Tuesday morning.
The initially skeptical local, who is now a friend of Dovberg’s, went into the ocean with the Sunday Splashers this week and intends to return.
“I like her attitude, she’s upbeat and a wonderful part of the community,” Patsy proudly admitted.