YELLOWKNIFE - Every year in May, a pair of sisters braves the still icy Yellowknife Bay in order to keep a family tradition alive. The tradition started several years ago on 17-year-old Jennifer Waugh's birthday (May 17), when she and her younger sister Gillian, now 14, couldn't wait to get out swimming.

Sisters Gillian (right) and Jennifer Waugh swam in Yellowknife Bay for the first time this year on May 1. The pair swim in the lake every year as the ice recedes. - Photo courtesy of Wanda Waugh

The Waugh family lives very close to the lake on School Draw Ave. -- very convenient for the pair who have been swimming like fish since they were kids.

"When we grew up we just loved swimming so much, so any sign of water in the lake we would try and get in," said Jennifer.

As her birthday falls around the time the ice is breaking up, they generally went out swimming for the first time on that date every year.

"As we got older we started going earlier and earlier and this was our earliest," said Gillian, who, with her sister, ventured into the water this year on May 1. The previous earliest date was May 3.

Though the water is still freezing cold in May, neither sister has ever become ill from the activity. Jennifer said they have been told they would get hypothermia but she feels it isn't risky.

"I've taken life guarding courses so I know all the risks," she said. "I don't think there are any risks."

Jennifer has been a national lifeguard for a couple of years now, and Gillian is a member of the Polar Bear Swim Team, which competes in the south. They are both active in other sports such as soccer and badminton.

Though Jennifer is always confident they'll enjoy the water just as in other years, the ice can still be a little daunting.

"We get nervous walking down to the lake when you see the ice, we saw a Ski-Doo-er going down the ice," she said. "When you're on the dock your brain kind of shuts off and you do it without thinking."

Now and then, the two will be joined by friends who want to give it a shot.

Their mother, Wanda Waugh, said she used to call her daughters crazy for going out in the lake so early. But now after several years, has come to enjoy the tradition, which she believes will go on for years to come.

"I imagine they'll continue until their nervous systems develop," she said.