Yup, it would seem that Ron Humphrey has somehow managed to land himself a spot on the Surf Coast Shire Council, at least until the next round of elections in November 2012 – given it wasn’t the Surf Coast residents that voted him in this time, but a somewhat eyebrow-raising countback using preference votes from the last election, we suspect he won’t make it past the next elections!

Congratulations Ron, on the unlikely chance you read this site – enjoy your time back in the council chambers while you have it. Our only advice would be for you to focus on the really pressing issues that concern the residents in the Surf Coast Shire, if you want ANY chance of being voted back in at the next elections!! You know how well your last attempt at closing our beaches went, but we’re always happy to sit down and have a chat about the ways the council can help make the beaches a better place for all users – if you want to talk about replacing the toilet block, putting in better lighting and fencing, and establishing council patrols of the Dunes, just let us know!! And we’ll certainly be keeping an eye on things, as we head into another summer of popular beach use!

The nudist community supports safe beaches for all users, and works actively with local and state representatives to do our part in support! And our advice to beach users remains unchanged – appropriate behaviour on the beaches and no going in the dunes, and there’ll be no reason to associate nudists with any issues.

Update: Ron’s return to the Surf Coast Shire Council is already with controversy, as it would appear he’s got a little conflict of interest going on – others have advised Ron that being a councillor and remaining president of the Surf Coast Community Ratepayers Association could be problematic!! Not for Ron though, he’s got it under control – be interesting to see if he manages to hold onto both positions!!

Here’s the article from today’s Surf Coast Times, if you are interested!

One of the topics of discussion amongst nudist communities has always been the concern over declining numbers – less people joining the clubs/resorts, less people joining the associations, less people attending the organised meets like swim nights, etc. But it would appear that nudist numbers aren’t necessarily declining, just the number of people who actually think of themselves as nudists!!

Yes, it’s an argument in semantics, but it would appear there are thousands (perhaps millions) of people out there that prefer to stay nude after their morning shower, or think nothing of pottering around their garden nude on a nice day, or go topless at beaches without second thought if the mood takes them and others are doing it! Are these people nudists? Who knows – the real and better question is, should we really care??

The reality is that the nudist community (as it stands) is actually succumbing to the new cultural design driven by social media, which suggests that anyone can be interested in anything, and not worry about a “title” that goes with it. People, particularly the younger 18-35 crowd, are more likely to admit their positive view of being nude by joining a Facebook group than directly telling their friends. There seems to be something “safe” about admitting your nude views from the comfort of your keyboard!

The challenge therefore is for the nudists with more traditional views – these people generally believe that being a nudist is very different to being a person who simply likes to be nude without the title. Can you see where we’re going here??

Of course, we’ve got examples of this new phenomenon – if you type “nude” into Facebook, you’ll get about 6,800 results!! Some of the examples from the first few pages include:

• Nude Beaches – over 4500 members
• Risky Nude Dash – over 241000 people!!
• Things to do nude – 1500 members
• Nude on the beach – over 5000 members
• Nude Revolution – around 1500 members, and associated with Vita Nuda
• Nudist – a group with over 2000 members
• Nudism – a group with over 3700 members
• Being Naked – another group, with over 13000 members!!

Interestingly, “naturism” as a search term does not result in many hits on Facebook (only 103), so perhaps the terminology is part of the challenge?? It would seem there are more than enough people interested in being nude for non-sexual reasons, so do we care if they call themselves nudists or not??

In related news, the social experiment that was Skinbook seems to have finally died, in quite a bitter way! There are a few articles around the place if you Google for them, but a couple we found can be read here and here. What did Skinbook do wrong?? Well, that’s open to conjecture and heated discussion – it certainly didn’t help that their own arbitrary (and usually subjective) membership approval process alienated many real nudists!! And some of the comments made by the founders in interviews certainly didn’t help their cause, highlighting their own hypocrisy and bias. The Skinbook experiment seems to have highlighted that people don’t like being put in defined boxes, least of all nudists!!

What does all this mean for the concept of “nudism”?? Will nudism continue to be a formally defined and practised lifestyle choice? Or will we reach a point in society where there will be a difference between being a nudist, and simply being someone who likes to be nude in specific circumstances?? Time will tell!

As a side note, Facebook has pages for Australian Nudists, Campbells Cove, Sunnyside North, Point Impossible Beach and Southside Beach, so check them out!!

(BTW, apparently the movie “Act Naturally” is due to start soon?? Anyone know anything about this? They have a Facebook page and website to check out)

We just found this great little article on news.com.au, which takes quite an amusing run through some of the do’s and don’ts of going to the beach and getting your kit off!!

Won’t go into much detail here, you really need to read the article yourself!! But we will leave you with our favourite line:

Jumping up and down when the hot sand burns your feet is understandable. Star jumps, however, are indefensible.

Summer is on its way, get ready to get back to the beach!!

According to a recent post on the Melbourne_nudist-naturists forum, one of the Pt Impossible CO beach regulars has detected some shifting in the Surf Coast Shire Council – apparently one of the councillors resigned last week, and they may not go back to the polls for a replacement!

Sure enough, it only took 2 minutes of research to confirm the process – Surf Coast Shire to Fill Vacancy

What does this mean, dear readers of this site and users of Pt Impossible? We don’t actually know – to be honest, we don’t have enough info on what was the outcome of the losers of the elections in 2008!! Does this really mean we’re looking at our good friend Ron getting back on Council? Who knows – but on the plus side, our community is still fiery as always and willing to take up the fight, that’s for sure!!

Is being elected on a count-back really a win?? We wouldn’t have thought so. Ron seems to be missing the limelight though, not for lack of trying – check the Surf Coast Times last month, they weren’t backwards coming forward in this editorial:

We look forward to working with whoever the new councillor is – and wish to remind that person that the nudist community is a great supporter of community values and providing a safe, well-behaved environment for all beach users. Oh, and if there is even a hint of plans to revoke the CO status of the beach, perhaps ask Ron how that worked out last time!!

Keep an eye out for the count-back results on or soon after 23/9