The Sydney Skinny Nude Ocean Swim

"Sometimes we are strange cattle!"

My father used to say this expression when ever people would do strange or illogical things and this saying came to mind watching the media coverage of the "Sydney Skinny" held recently at Cobblers Beach, Sydney Harbour.

Where according to the media "over 900 Australians participated in the world's first nude ocean swim, the Sydney Skinny, a 900 meter race in the waters of Sydney Harbor. The concept was created as a way to encourage people to throw aside concerns of body image, to connect with nature and celebrate as a community. The swim hopes to raise as much as $15,000 for the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife."

Now I'm all for the promotion of clothes-free recreation and I support what this event is wanting to achieve. The thing that left me somewhat bemused was those interviewed after the event spoke in glowing terms of the clothes-free experience and they said that they will do it again next year.

Next year? Why not next weekend? We have the legal clothes-free beach available why wait until next year if it was such an affirming experience?

It seems we need to have an excuse to get our gear off and enjoy some nude time. We have to be able to say "Well we did it in support of a good cause!"

People you don't need an excuse just admit that you enjoyed it and do it again!

That's why I think that we are indeed "Strange cattle!"

Are you a proud Naturist?

We no longer hide the fact that we practice a Naturist lifestyle, we don't shout it from the roof tops, but when asked "What did you do on the weekend?" I will say, I went to the beach which is almost immediately followed by which beach? To which I reply Cobblers Beach! The response that I get will either be, where is that? or isn't that the.....nudist beach!!??

To which I reply its clothing option actually, not that we wear any.

Now since adopting this practice I have not had one bad reaction. Some people are surprised, some ask questions, but overall the reaction has been positive.

Now I don't tell people who could use that information in a negative way, common sense still applies, but it does not take much to learn we practice a clothes free lifestyle.

As an example we have a "Wandering Bares" sticker on the car.

We have this "Shame Breakers" sticker on the front window.

And finally on the front door we have...

We make sure that we don't answer the door naked, so that we are not blacklisted at the local pizza shop, but more so if someone comes to the door unannounced and happens to see us walking around or doing some house work naked, they cannot say they have not been warned.

But the point that I am trying to make is that the more people who are not ashamed of our naturist lifestyle the more mainstream it becomes and hopefully the more acceptance there will be.

We have also had this T-Shirt commissioned that I am happy to wear.
It says "Get Sunkissed All Over @ Cobblers Beach, Mosman.

 

Again the more people that use our clothing optional beaches the more chance we have of keeping them!