June 2015 President's Message

As Haulover Beach completes its 24th year as a designated naturist beach on public lands, it appears that it is joining the grandpa status of nude beaches.

When Haulover's naturist beach was established in 1991, because it was not a longtime traditional naturist beach hangout, it was the new kid on the block. At that the time, there were thousands of locations throughout North America, with over 100 listed and verified in Florida alone. Many of the naturist beach sites throughout the United States as well as Florida were so historically traditional that they had no known start date and were assumed to have always been. In the case of Playalinda Beach in Canaveral National Seashore, Spanish explorers wrote of finding Native Americans nude on the beach there over 400 years ago.

As Florida developed through the years and into the World War II era, when hundreds of thousands of military recruits were sent into Florida for training, those recruits quickly found and established isolated sites for skinny-dipping, an American tradition from their youth! Who could afford a bathing costume during the 1930s depression years, anyway? And, during that age of innocence, who would want to wear a swimsuit when none was needed? Moreover, there were no swimsuits in the GI-issue allotment of clothing, and why get a pair of skivvies wet when it made no sense?

Since the establishment of Haulover's naturist beach, we have witnessed hundreds of traditional nude beaches close. There were many reasons for this and I will list a few.

South Florida - A Naturist Perspective Richard's monthly column in NUSA Sun May 2015: "Concinnity:" Yep, That's The Word. - Dreaming about the nude beach Richard explains how "concinnity," a word meaning "harmonious structuring of all parts of something in terms of the whole," applies perfectly to the world of naturism. Read...

In the late 1970s, Lee Baxandall, recognizing the organized efforts in the anti-nudist movement, established The Naturist Society and sent representatives into Florida to organize into local naturist associations and to be prepared to defend their existing skinny-dipping sites.

One of the tactics of the anti-nudity mob was to file complaints claiming sexual activity at the nude beach sites. They claimed the nudity caused raging hormones, which in turned caused men to get out of control, etc. - an easy argument to win, if there is no one to fight back.

In many cases, people with different agendas shared the remote beach sites because they had a road or path to the site. However, once at the site, the naturists would hang out in one location, the drug crowd in another, and those trolling for sex, behind a different set of bushes.

Back in the day, many of the naturists were of the "Greatest Generation" and they did not tolerate open sexual behavior in the naturist section.

The naturist females did not tolerate male visitors who left their clothes on, classifying them as gawkers, and a group of females would run the gawkers out of the location.

Those were the days when people visiting a naturist site accepted responsibility for the location and, knowing that sexual activity would lead to action to close the site, had a zero-tolerance policy and would confront the perpetrators and kick them out of the location.

Today, it appears on Haulover that the beach has attracted a different crowd of visitors. The "Greatest Generation" has passed on and the new generation of beach visitors appears not to want to be involved in policing the beach.

History teaches us many things. In the case of nude beaches, history shouts at us not to ignore inappropriate behavior on the beach. It tells us that inappropriate behavior on a nude beach will lead to the closure of the beach to nude use. That is for certain - a guarantee!

Inappropriate behavior in a public park is a serious crime that can reach the level of a felony. To witness the same crime and not report it makes the witness an accessory to the crime.

Recently, the activists in South Florida Free Beaches and its nonprofit, educational and charitable adjunct, B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute, have taken the matter into their own hands, again. First, they lobbied and successfully got the county to accept new signs for the beach, stating that sexual activity is prohibited by law. Rather than wait for a busy, understaffed county maintenance crew to install the signs, we installed the signs ourselves. We also installed the signs in the men's restrooms.

Next, B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation's Executive Director, Shirley Mason, working with the Miami-Dade County Police and Parks, Recreation and Open Space Departments and SFFB/FNA, had flyers printed to be handed out to beach visitors, advising them that sexual activity in a public park is a crime.

SFFB/FNA's Beach Ambassador Program has started a separate Crime Watch Program for early morning and late night patrols. Working in twos, we will inform people that the park is closed and have the witnesses and the cameras to record illegal activity for prosecution.

Sometimes, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself. Not the level of the militia, but the obligation to practice our citizenship. Now, if we can just get the average beach visitor to do the same. Accept responsibility for the beach; speak up for the law or report inappropriate behavior. It is called practicing your citizenship.

On page 2 of the Guidebook to the Naturist Beach is a list of numbers to call to report inappropriate behavior if you do not want to intercede personally. Print editions of the Guidebook are available for free from dispenser units on Haulover Beach, or you may order a copy by mail. (See below left for instructions.)

Another way to help protect the beach is to join South Florida Free Beaches / Florida Naturist Association. There is an application on page 7 of the Guidebook or you can visit our web site at www.sffb.com.

Remember, it is very easy to close a beach to nude use. All you have to do, is to do nothing.

Haulover and Blind Creek Beaches launch summer events

Dates have been posted for the next several quarterly Haulover Beach Ambassador (BA) trainings, starting with Saturday, June 20, 2015. Part of the educational plan for Beach Ambassadors is to familiarize them with the history and current situations of other clothing-optional beaches, particularly newer ones that are still in the process of gaining recognition. Toward that end, this quarterly training session will take place at Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce, FL. This year's remaining trainings will occur at Haulover Beach in Miami on Sunday, September 27 and Saturday, December 12.

BAs are volunteers that serve as beach monitors and greeters, a combination of block watch and welcome wagon. For their service, BAs at Haulover Beach get a cool hat, ID badge, and free parking on their duty days. Seasonal residents are welcome to participate. If you have any questions or wish to sign up for a training session, contact Ken.

Friends of Blind Creek Beach, the community organization that looks after the clothing-optional section there, celebrates its first anniversary on the weekend of June 6-7 with events on their beach and at a private location on the mainland. All are welcome. They also plan to participate, in conjunction with AANR Florida (Florida region of the American Association for Nude Recreation), in the 2015 Skinny-Dip on Saturday, July 11 at the end of the annual Nude Recreation Week.

SFFB is also planning for the July 11-12 weekend at Haulover Beach, including a celebration of the 24th anniversary of the clothing-optional section there. We will serve cake and lemonade on both days. We may also take part in the 2015 Skinny-Dip, but as a casual, just-for-fun highlight, without the bureaucracy and regimentation of a formal attempt at a Guinness World Record. 

Southern California Naturist Association calls for standby volunteers for oil spill cleanup

Friends of Bates Beach, a division of Southern California Naturist Association, SFFB's counterpart in that region, has issued a precautionary call for volunteers in response to the May 19 spill of at least 110,000 gallons (416,395 liters) of crude oil from a broken pipeline onto Refugio State Beach, just up the coast from Santa Barbara, CA. Refugio is a popular, textile camping beach 10 miles (16 km) down the coast from the nude beach at Gaviota State Park. As of this writing, Gaviota and nude beaches on the other side of Refugio, More Mesa and Bates Beach, were not in immediate jeopardy. If the spill were not contained soon, however, it might drift down the coast and affect those other beaches.

Santa Barbara County has a very fragile coastal environment. Sea gulls, sea lions, and other coastal wildlife were being found covered in oil a couple of days after the spill. As of this writing, professional teams seemed to have the cleanup under control for the moment, but, if many more distressed animals were to start washing up on shore, there would likely be a call for volunteers to help. In 1969, when the last major oil spill occurred along this coast, thousands of volunteers were needed.

In anticipation of the potential need, Friends of Bates Beach is assembling a list of volunteers who could be mobilized, just in case. No one should show up at cleanup sites without a specific call for help, but, if you are available to assist if needed, please sign up at volunteers@friendsofbatesbeach.org.

Gay Naturists International (GNI) is the world's foremost association of male naturists. As reported in the March 2015 issue of this newsletter, GNI has collaborated closely with South Florida Free Beaches in running joint membership drives, providing complimentary exhibitor space at each other's events, and exchanging ads in their publications. In February, GNI joined B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute, SFFB, and Bare Necessities Tour and Travel Company in co-sponsoring and attending the first Naturist Unity Summit. In continuing support of naturist unity and the follow-up event, The Celebrated Nude Art Festival and Naturist Unity Conference in Miami, October 24-28, 2015, GNI has extended a twofold offer.

First, there is a 25% ($10) discount off the regular $40 dues for a one-year membership in GNI for applicants referred by SFFB or B.E.A.C.H.E.S. (Note that membership is limited to men aged 21 or over.) Furthermore, for each one that joins GNI or renews his GNI membership through this promotion, GNI will donate $10 toward the expenses of The Celebrated Nude. These offers are valid through the end of that event.

When joining GNI on line at www.gaynaturists.org, be sure to enter UNITY15 in the promo code field of the payment form to qualify for this deal. (This is not the "club promotional code" in the "Member Information" section.) The discount and GNI's donation are valid only if the above code is entered in the application; it may not be claimed after the fact. Get details of this offer and GNI's upcoming nude retreats for men in June and August.