We received this email quite a while back, but we get contacted by so many “interest groups” that are actually spam or other scam, we dutifully took no notice!! But this spam wouldn’t go away, it kept asking us to fill out their survey!!

Turns out it is probably genuine – a naturist holiday survey is being done out of the Cyprus University of Technology, and they are looking for people to complete their questionnaire. We just completed it, nothing too stressful in there – if it’s a scam, we couldn’t see it!!

Here’s the email, with link – if you are interested, click the link and fill it out!!

Dear Sir/Madam,

I hope this message finds you well. Earlier this year I contacted you regarding my intention to carry out research on naturism tourism. Even though I have not heard from you, I would like to inform you that the questionnaire has been prepared, following consultation with a number of international naturist organisations. The questionnaire has now taken the form of an electronic survey which can be found in the following link:
www.cut.ac.cy/staff/k.andriotis/survey/

In this link you can find an English and a French version of the questionnaire.

A number of well-respected naturist organisations have already agreed to participate in this survey. I would therefore be grateful if you would consider facilitating this research by informing your members about this survey and circulate the above link. The survey is quite simple and takes only a few minutes to complete. Given its content, I hope you might find it interesting!

Thank you very much for your time and please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information regarding this project.

Kindest regards
Dr Dimitrios P. Stergiou

Experiencing a distinct sense of deja vu, we were unhappy to read that other beaches around the world are fighting to save their beaches just like we had to!! Holkham Bay is on the north coast of Norfolk, a large official beach that has won awards in years gone by. But the beach appears to be under threat at the moment, apparently due to very similar issues we faced on our beaches here!

In a Metro UK article, the article started strongly:

A number of visitors have reported lewd activity at the dedicated naturist beach at Holkham Bay, Norfolk, with one campaigner posting: ‘My last three visits to the beach have seen me propositioned twice. I’ve witnessed gay sex in the sand dunes and men walking around ‘playing’.

What’s new in this particular beach battle is that the fight has moved online. According to an article in the Yorkshire Evening Post:

A campaign has been launched on a social networking site calling for the closure of a nudist beach after claims it has become a “haven for swingers and perverts”.
The group on Facebook was set up after reports that people had witnessed gay sex in sand dunes in the upmarket resort of Holkham Bay, Norfolk.

We’ll be keeping an eye on this one, and will be keen to see a resolution that allows the nudists to retain access to the beach, and the undesirable element removed!! You have our support, Holkham Bay!

Update: It would seem police are following up the inappropriate behaviour being reported at Holkham Bay. According to the article on EADT24:

Andrew Welch, of British Naturism, stressed the incidents did not involve “genuine naturists’’.

“This type of thing is rare but we are aware of these reports,’’ he said.

Sounds familiar, no?

How cool is this – posted 6 months ago on Vimeo, and actually filmed sometime during or before 2005, some of you may have already seen the French Naturism advertising spot that was shorlisted for Cannes!

We’re big fans of promoting the lifestyle and the community, particularly to the mainstream – but it would be nice to have the kind of cash required to make simple ads like this, that communicate the message really well!!

Check it out, it’s worth the 30 seconds!!

TVC – France-espace-naturiste- directed by Jerome PY- shortlist Cannes fest 2005 from Jerome PY – Director on Vimeo.

Update: Got another one – ClothesFree.com run a TV channel, it’s good to see more efforts to get the lifestyle into the mainstream by the larger international organisations. Australia is not yet this far advanced, but one day perhaps…

ClothesFree TV – Wholesome nudist fun from ClothesFree.com

Apparently a world record was set in July last year – the “largest number of people bathing naked together”, according to the article in the Toronto Sun, saw 13,674 people take a dip at locations right across North America.

That’s an amazing effort, and they are going to try and break the record this year!! Events like this raise awareness, show that there’s fun to be had when you’re nude, and does great things for the positive body image and acceptance message!!

We look forward to hearing how this years record attempt goes – hopefully the weather is hot and lots of people get out (because it’s still _freezing_ here!!)

Update: A new article is posted here, check it out!!

Although the term has been used occasionally in the past, “Nakations” are popping up more frequently now that Europe and the USA are right in the middle of their summers. Even the Canadians are getting in on the action, eh! According to this article in the Ottawa Citizen:

“There’s nothing more basic and human than being nude in the sun … because that’s being true to who we are,” says Stéphane Deschenes

While nakations are seemingly becoming more commonplace and mainstream, what’s more interesting is the way Deschenes (who runs the Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park northeast of Toronto) went about popularising nudism/naturism to the public:

Deschenes has a website, a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter feed, and many of the campers he attracts are not lifelong nudists. They’re brand new at being buff.

A well-orchestrated online marketing campaign has helped to recruit a younger generation of nudists — or naturists as they prefer to be called these days — who weren’t around when the movement went mainstream in the ’60s and ’70s, he says.

It’s an interesting article, be sure to check it out on the link above! And remind yourself that we have passed the shortest day of the year and the weather should only be getting warmer from now on!!