August 2016

• The President's message
• Haulover 25th Anniversary
celebration recap
• Beach Ambassador training
• Treasure Coast Naturists update
• Music Medley for Young Naturists
at Sunsport Gardens
• Nude swim day for Madrid pools
• Handicapped parking at Haulover
• Off-trail hiking ban in California
state parks rejected
• SFFB August Board meeting
• SFFB backs naturist candidate
• Get naked in Daytona Beach!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

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Beach Education Advocates for
Culture, Health,Environment
& Safety (B.E.A.C.H.E.S.)

501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and charitable adjunct of SFFB

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The Naturist Society
Body acceptance is the idea.
Nude recreation is the way.

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Learn all about Haulover Beach! Click on above image to download this informative, 20-page booklet, pick up a free copy from a dispenser unit at Haulover Beach, or order by mail (S&H, US$5.00 in U.S. or Canada, US$10.00 elsewhere). Send request to address below (in e-mail version of newsletter).

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Bringing Together the Largest Nudist Community in the World
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Life is Great; Live it Nude! ©

Find a men's naturist club or naked yoga group to join!

GNI men's nude Gathering (August 18-28, 2016): Find out more and register

Read GNI BuffBuzz, GNI's official blog, published semi-monthly.

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Looking for naturist places in Florida?

Click on above image to search for naturist clubs, resorts, yoga classes, and other businesses statewide. See alphabetical and geographical listings and an interactive map. Also includes a list of beaches.

by Richard Mason

Haulover 25th Anniversary celebrated July 9-10, 2016

Click to view a slide show of photos from the Haulover 25th Anniversary celebration. (Additional photos on SFFB website and Facebook.)

South Florida Free Beaches / Florida Naturist Association (SFFB/FNA) and B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute celebrated the 25th anniversary of Haulover's clothing-optional section on the beach over the weekend of July 9-10, 2016. The weather was perfect - sunny and dry. The celebration featured music and entertainment, food and drink (including anniversary cake and lemonade), body-painting, volleyball, naturist beach merchandise, and a naturist tour and travel auction. For details, visit the event page.

Naturist clubs, resorts, and other businesses had an option to reserve space for a very limited number of exhibitor booths, and we had some distinguished Legacy Partners and Boosters for that. See and click on their display ads at left, further below, to learn about them. In addition, there were two general sponsors, TotalBank and daddy O hotel miami in Bay Harbour Islands, FL. Also, select food trucks featuring American and international cuisines were there.

Click to watch the video of the Masons' plaque unveiling.

Several of them participate in Food Trucks at Haulover Parkin the kite field (south end of park) every Tuesday evening from 5:00 to 9:30. Please patronize all of the above and let them know you found out about them through SFFB!

A highlight of the festivities on Saturday was the unveiling of a mock-up of a bronze plaque honoring Richard and Shirley Mason for their roles in founding Haulover Naturist Beach and nurturing it through its first 25 years. If you missed the unveiling at the 25th Anniversary celebration, you can watch it at right. The actual, installed plaque is scheduled to be dedicated at Haulover Beach on Sunday, August 21 at 1:00 p.m. on the service road near the dune crossover for Lifeguard Tower #15. Please join us for the ceremony!

Beach Ambassador training

Do you spend a lot of time on Miami's nude beach? If so, you have a chance to give back by volunteering as a Beach Ambassador (BA) to help maintain naturist standards on Haulover Beach and keep it safely nude for all to enjoy. Sign up for and attend a training to become part of a wonderful corps of volunteers.

BAs 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.

The next Beach Ambassador training is scheduled for Haulover Beach in Miami on Sunday, August 21. The next one after that is on Saturday, November 12. If you have any questions or wish to sign up for a training session, contact Ken.

Treasure Coast Naturists update

The community meeting that the Board of Directors of Treasure Coast Naturists (TCN) had scheduled for July 17 on Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce, FL was postponed to Sunday, September 11, starting at 10:30 a.m. The meeting takes place under the pavilion near the parking lot trailhead of the dune crossover. All friends of Blind Creek Beach may attend, and suggestions and questions are welcome.

The 3rd Annual Blind Creek Beach Cleanup occurs on Saturday, September 17, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in coordination with International Coastal Cleanup Day. Volunteers may enter a raffle to win great prizes of nudist destination vacations.

Madrid authorizes nude swim day in municipal pools

Handicapped parking for Haulover nude beach

There are handicapped spaces, all free of charge, in three locations near the clothing-optional section of Haulover Beach. Two of them, located beachside to the immediate north and south, respectively, of the Ocean Rescue Lifeguard Station building, have 15 spaces each. They tend to fill up early (between 9 and 10 a.m.) on weekends.

There are 34 more handicapped spaces, not yet publicized by the County, in the North Parking Lot. Access is via the Haulover Park Marina (not Bill Bird Marina) entrance. Tell the booth attendant you're going to handicapped parking and take a sharp right turn. From there, use the tunnel and wheelchair ramp (with a 5% slope) to cross underneath Collins Avenue (State Road A1A) to the beach. A plastic Mobi-Mat® leads through the dune and onto the sand.

Naturists and allies quash off-trail hiking ban in CA

In late April, the California Department of Parks and Recreation proposed a general ban (with exceptions by Department approval) on off-trail use of natural or cultural reserves or preserves within the California State Park System. Although this wasn't specifically a naturist issue, several naturist clubs in southern California, such as The Camping Bares, were concerned about its potential impact on their nude camping and hiking activities. Naturists are more likely to go off trail for privacy and to avoid potential conflict with textile users, and the adoption of such a ban would put a crimp in those clubs' programming.

Park user groups requested a public hearing. The Anza-Borrego Foundation (friends and supporters of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park) encouraged its members and those of environmental groups such as the Sierra Club to attend the hearing, which was held in San Diego on July 22. B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Board member Claudia Kellersch, of The Camping Bares and Black's Beach Bares, called on naturists to join her in attending the hearing, where she spoke against the proposed new rules.

Nearly 100 other speakers did the same, including park rangers who would have to enforce the ban, while no one spoke in support of the proposal. It was consequently dropped. This outcome reinforces the value of robust turnout (whether in person or in writing) by a coalition of kindred witnesses to express their common views at government hearings. It demonstrates that it's worth the effort to cultivate allies and to speak up in numbers.

Manuela Carmena Castrillo, Mayor of Madrid, Spain, authorized the city's swimming pools in early July to hold a "no swimsuit day" under certain conditions. For details, read Carmena authorizes a 'day without swimsuits' in Madrid's pools (in Spanish). Her decision was in response to a petition by the Association for Naturist Development (ADN), the Madrid affiliate of the Spanish Federation of Naturism, to provide naturists with an opportunity "to educate and transmit our values, which are Western values," in the words of Ismael Rodrigo, ADN President. Rodrigo continued, "There is nothing criminal about the body and the best way we can show that is to try not to wear clothes when it's not necessary, and in the pool, it isn't."

"No swimsuit day" in 2015 in Madrid's Casa de Campo park

Mayor Carmena has stipulated that each of Madrid's 21 districts may decide whether to allow a nude swim day, "if appropriate." Furthermore, any municipal pool where it takes place must post signage at the entrance, advising the public of the event, and children must be accompanied by an adult. At press time, a date had not yet been set, but this was expected to happen later in August.

Controversy over this decision has taken on a partisan tone, with right-leaning political leaders, including one that Carmena defeated in the 2015 mayoral election, blasting the mayor and the City Council for their "left-wing" and "crazy" ideas. ADN felt the need to insist publicly that it does not align with any political party or ideology and to remind people that several such events were held in recent years under a more conservative administration. ADN's apolitical position and educational intent are elaborated on in a July 8 article (in Spanish) in Spain's ABC national daily newspaper, Nudists respond: We don't want to be connected with Carmena.

SFFB Board meeting

The Board of Directors of South Florida Free Beaches meets on Saturday, August 13, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. under the North Chickee (thatch-roofed shade structure) near Lifeguard Tower 15. The meeting is open to SFFB sponsors / members, supporters, and invited guests.

The previous month's meeting, scheduled for July 23, was cancelled because of unplanned travel by several Board members.

SFFB backs naturist for Calhoun County (MI) Comm.

Bill Schroer. (Click above to play campaign video clip.)

SFFB, through its Political Action Fund, has contributed $150 to the campaign of Bill Schroer for the Board of Commissioners of Calhoun County in Michigan. The principal city is Battle Creek. SFFB also mailed Bill's campaign brochure to more than 50 current and past members and contacts of SFFB in Michigan.

A veteran of the U.S. Army, Bill is principal of WJSchroer Co., a marketing, research, and strategy firm in downtown Battle Creek, to which Bill is strongly committed. He is a former chairman of the city's Downtown Development Partnership and is currently a member of the Downtown Parking Committee. Bill is also a former Treasurer and Board member of the Naturist Action Committee (NAC) and Naturist Education Foundation (NEF), and served as Executive Director of the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR). Bill works closely with B.E.A.C.H.E.S. Foundation Institute and other naturist organizations on the Naturist Unity project. Although naturism is not a plank of Bill's platform, he is campaigning openly as a naturist.

Bill is running in the Republican primary on August 2 against the incumbent Commissioner for District 4. If he wins, he will advance to the general election on November 8.

Final reminder: Get naked in Daytona Beach at Solar Plunge (August 12-14, 2016)

Crossed Oaks Haven Travel Club is hosting Solar Plunge (summer version of "polar plunge") on the weekend of August 12-14, 2016 at Ocean Shore Resort in Daytona Beach. The event room rate for Saturday night is $55 if reserved under Solar Plunge. Live music, festivities, and barbecues are planned during the weekend, with the plunge taking place in the pool on Sunday, August 14 at noon. Although the minimum required occupancy wasn't reached, the resort has confirmed that it is honoring the club's exclusivity for a nude event. Reserve ASAP (daytime is best) at (800) 545-9795 or (386) 239-9795 and then let the club know you're coming.

Crossed Oaks Haven has assured the resort that it takes full responsibility to erect privacy screening for outdoor common areas, but the club needs some assistance with this. The club is also asking anyone that has E-Z Up-style canopies to bring those to provide shelter from sun and rain. If you plan to attend and can help, please read the details and get in touch ASAP with Crossed Oaks Haven.