For the first time in the past 20 years, Peter MacVane will not take part in this year’s Lobster Dip off Old Orchard Beach. MacVane, one of the founding members of the Lobster Dip, is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer.

A South Portland police officer, MacVane said he will be there Tuesday, rain, snow or shine to “regulate things,” but he won’t be able to go into the water himself. He said eight or 10 other police officers at the South Portland Police Department have agreed to take part this year in his place.

In addition to participating in all 19 of the past Lobster Dips, MacVane is president of the double dippers club – those who raise even more money for the Special Olympics by going into the water at least twice.

MacVane said some years, when the air temperature has been fairly mild, he’s been known to dip four or five times.

While some people might think it’s a little crazy to jump into the ocean every Jan. 1, MacVane said the annual event is actually a lot of fun. “Plus you get bragging rights when you do something crazy like that,” he said.

MacVane is also a member of the Portland Rugby Club, which sponsors the fundraiser for Special Olympics Maine. The Portland resident said the Lobster Dip was the brainchild of fellow Portland Rugby Club member Rocky Frenzilli of Falmouth. MacVane and Frenzilli are the only original members of the rugby club who have never missed a Lobster Dip since the first event in 1989.

Frenzilli said he got the idea from a friend who belonged to the Providence (Rhode Island) Rugby Club, which holds an ocean dip every year in St. James Bay off Newport. “I thought (the ocean dip) was a good idea to give something back and to raise the profile of the rugby club,” Frenzilli said.

“A bunch of guys” – including MacVane – got to talking about doing an ocean dip and wondered which organization would benefit the most from it. MacVane suggested Special Olympics Maine, an organization he was already familiar with because he had organized the group’s torch run in the past.

Frenzilli said at that first dip 20 years ago there was no publicity and only about 15 to 17 members of the Portland Rugby Club took part. By chance a local television news crew was down at East End Beach in Portland shooting some ocean scenes when the members of the rugby club took to the water.

Frenzilli said the first year, a sister of one of the club members, who also happened to be a Special Olympian, was on hand. “I remember she said, ‘I think they’re all crazy.'”

After that first year, Frenzilli said, the Lobster Dip has continued to grow in size, reputation and in its ability to raise a large amount of money for the Special Olympics. Over the past three years or so, MacVane said, about 500 people have jumped into the ocean and about $50,000 is raised each year.

The Lobster Dip took place at East End Beach for about the first 15 years , Frenzilli said, but as the number of people participating in the dip grew, about four years ago the event was moved to Old Orchard Beach to accommodate the larger crowds.

Although Frenzilli and MacVane are getting older, both said they don’t foresee a time in the near future when they won’t take part in the dip. MacVane is already planning ahead for Jan. 1, 2009, he said this week.

“It’s just a neat event and it’s become very special to me,” Frenzilli said.

The 20th annual Lobster Dip will be held in Old Orchard Beach on Tuesday at noon.