AANR to Skip the Skinny Dip in 2011

The American Association of Nude Recreation is taking a hiatus from its two-year old Guinness World Record Skinny-Dip event. Susan Weaver, President of the organization, explains:

Planning these events takes enormous coordination and effort. Guinness has stringent certification and verification procedures required to establish and beat world records. Every location hosting an event had to meet the Guinness standards. Some of the location coordinators wanted a rest for a year from the many, many hours of work that went into planning the events and providing official records for Guinness.

I feel certain that AANR will be back in the future seeking to beat the 2010 record.

With 14,110 people participating last year alone, it seems that the event would have been profitable, but apparently the time spent on organization and record-keeping wiped out any benefit to many of the clubs. It was a public relations coup, and a brilliant idea, but perhaps it would have been better had other organizations like The Naturist Society had gotten involved. Now the future of the event is up in the air.

At least three AANR resorts already have the skinny-dip on their calendars for July 9,2011 (here, here and here), so hopefully someone will let them know soon so they can schedule other events.

Skinny-Dipping for Charity - Are You Listening AANR and TNS?

A naturist club in the UK hopes to raise £1,000 for a cancer care center by donating a portion of the entry fees for their indoor nude swims.

The club holds three spring and three autumn swims. Part of the proceeds from the entrance fee are donated to charity.

Each attracts between 120-200 people. David, who has been a naturist for more than 20 years, said: "We get the police and religious people. An engineer from the QE2 is a regular attendee.

"Naturism is a very good leveler. Without your formal attire you don't know who you are talking to."

As well as locals, the swims are attended by naturists from as far afield as Scotland and Wales. Sometimes the Young British Naturists, for 16 to 30-year-olds, and Suntreckers, a naturist caravanning and camping club, descend on the pool.

Is there any naturist club in the United States which draws up to 200 people per swim? Here in Columbus, Ohio, The Buckeye Naturists/Have Sun Will Travel swims are lucky to get 20 people, and West Penn Naturist boasts of 30-50 people in attendance at their swimming events.

Either Yanks are a lot more prudish than the Brits, or this is a matter of poor marketing. The British Club, Water Meadows Naturist Swim Club, has an extensive, up-to-date web site with scheduled dates announced up to a year in advance, a guestbook, links, events page, online membership form, online store, and much more.

Here in Columbus, Ohio, The Buckeye Naturists don't even have their winter swim dates announced on their web site, blog, or Google group. There is an announcement that "winter swims are on", but no date or further information. Have Sun Will Travel has 4 swim dates announced, but no phone number, no location, no instructions.

West Penn Naturist is a much better web site, with complete list of winter events, news, fees, policies, links, and information for first-timers. It could use a cosmetic makeover, but it's updated and informative.

This past summer, for the AANR World Record Skinny-Dip event, most of the outdoor pools and ponds at affiliated resorts were overflowing - 357 at Paradise Valley Resort in Georgia, 345 at Turtle Lake in Michigan, 317 at White Tails in Virginia, 235 at Avalon in West Virginia, and so on.

With the winter blahs setting in over a great portion of America, either AANR or TNS should be working with non-landed clubs to develop a winter strategy to keep nudism and naturism vital in the off-season. There's no reason a charitable event cannot be organized - skinny dip for breast cancer, or autism, or raise money for the Special Olympics, or to help wounded war veterans. Something, anything, to stir the nude spirit when the weather is cold, and the pool waters are warm.

It's not for lack of interest by the public, it's lack of leadership and organization by the national groups.

Thank You Green Valley

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday was visitor appreciation day at Green Valley nudist resort in Ohio, and combined with the AANR Guinness World Record Skinny-Dip event, it turned out to be a spectacular day.

My wife and I arrived at 11 AM, just as the clouds opened up drenching the campground in torrential rain. A man in the office assured us that the line of thundershowers would pass through quickly, and when the sun came out an hour later the temperature jumped from 69 to the mid-seventies, and eventually up to 80 later in the afternoon.

The folks at Green Valley deserve thanks and congratulations for the terrific job they did all day. Members doing security duty in golf carts were everywhere, the people could not have been friendlier, and new visitors were made to feel welcome and at home right away.

Shortly after the skies cleared, members fired up the grill for free hamburgers and hot dogs, with delicious potato and pasta salads provided as sides. Even the beer was free!

Inside the clubhouse was a bake sale and silent auction, and the resort sold raffle tickets for prizes, proceeds to be used for a defibrillator.

Naturally, all activity revolved around the pool, and as 3 PM approached a count was initiated and people began wading into the pool. 213 nude and happy people waved to photographers as a new world record was set.

So thank you everyone at Green Valley for a successful and truly fun event. We can't wait to come back!

TNS Proclaims Nude Recreation Week July 6-12

Well, that's just fine that the NAC decided to pass on this information, but the problem is that the message was posted on July 9 just as Nude Recreation Week was ending!

Meanwhile, AANR has been running away with the public relations war with all the hype surrounding their attempt at a skinny-dipping record, an event that should have originated with The Naturist Society.

OK, the AANR skinny-dip record attempt is this Saturday, many clubs are offering FREE admission to new visitors, so what's your excuse?

List of clubs participating in the skinny-dipping record can be found here. Be sure to call or email your local venue for details, many have different rules and regulations. Some but not all clubs are offering free admission. Have fun!

Reporter "Gets Comfortable" at Nudist Resort

Image via Wikipedia

Sarah Perry does a nice write-up of Wildwood Naturist Park, and strips off in the process. The article centers around the efforts to reach more young people and get them involved in nudism/naturism, and the upcoming AANR skinny-dipping record attempt.

Beatrice Taylor, manager and part-owner of Wildwood, sees the problem firsthand. When she, her husband, and four others bought the land and founded the club in 1997, the average age of those who joined was 40. Now, she said, it's 45.

She's tried to reach area young people: She called North Texas college newspapers and radio stations to ask about buying ads. Wildwood didn't want to advertise orgies or any of the other snicker-inducing activities that people who wear clothes often assume start happening when lots of people get naked together. Just natural living - and maybe a membership discount for young people who could show, say, a school ID card.

But no one returned her calls. "I don't know why the schools won't call me back," she said. "I'm willing to pay."

The world-record skinny-dipping attempt isn't an offer by Wildwood to open its gates to those who just want to ogle others for the day. Visitors are allowed, but they must sign and obey the same rules as members. Nudity is required, drugs are prohibited, and "overt sexual activity" is not tolerated. "We want participators, not spectators," Taylor said.

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