Another Day at Kellys Beach in the Year of COVID

It was a good day at the beach on Saturday, even though I had to walk much farther south than usual.  I had arrived a few hours later than usual and without a nudist presence established at the usual area of the beach the textiles had migrated southward.  Most of them came afoot but there were four boats as well, one of them on the lagoon side of the dune.

On the sea side of the lagoon the boat farthest south was crewed by a pair of disconsolate young teenage boys hoping to see naked women but still too far north for that.  They had scrawled “SEND NUDES!” in the beach sand but that didn’t seem to be working for them. 

I told the boys that if they wanted to see naked people they’d have to take off their clothes and go a some hundreds of metres south.

“What? Take off our clothes?”

I assured them that it was illegal to be clothed while on a nudist beach because only perverts did that.  They didn’t want to be arrested, did they?

They considered the matter, exchanging worried glances.  They considered for some time as I walked on southward.  When I was about one hundred metres farther on I heard their outboard start, turned about and saw them heading north at full speed.  I think that worked well.

When I finally reached the little nudist encampment I found about twenty people present including three textiles who had canoed across the lagoon and had laid out their towels maybe thirty metres north of the first naked folks.  All the nudes were ignoring the three textiles and the textiles were ignoring the nudes.  That too worked well as far as I was concerned.

Unwilling to cede beachfront to the clothen I set up my camp six metres or so from the northernmost nudes and maybe twenty metres south of the textiles.  My nude near neighbours were a couple whom I already knew from previous years.  By and by I got my camp in order, went for dip to cool off and then for a walk down the beach.  The ability to go for a long walk on the beach is something that I particularly enjoy about Kellys. 

I had walked to where I was just short of the point when I met first one, then two couples coming north.  They must have gone so far south looking for privacy and when they saw me walking down the tide line they hurriedly dragged on their beach kit.  I find such events to be both funny and sad.  No true naturist/nudist would object to being seen naked, at least not by another naturist, especially not one who was nude.  But there you go, they did.  When I got to within speaking distance of the first couple I said “You didn’t have to cover up for me you know, this isn’t a formal occasion.”  The woman laughed at this slight attempt at humour; the man grumped.  Maybe he thought I was being too flip.

Maybe it was the plastic dragonfly bobbing about above my hat on a stainless spring wire that put him off.  No, I’m not kidding.  These things are sold by both Lee Valley and Amazon, advertised as an anti-fly device – a “scarefly” if you will –  modeled on the idea of a scarecrow.  You can either buy the finished product or try your hand at crafting your own from twigs and maple seeds. The maker claims that the scare dragonfly, the most voracious predator of horse flies and deer flies, repels both of these annoying pests simply by frightening them away, no chemicals involved.  So I thought I’d give it a try.  Why not, I kind of like the look of them anyway.  I ditched the clip and sewed mine onto the side of my Tilley hat.  I’m not claiming that it worked because I’ve only tried it on one day so far, but it certainly seemed to work.  It kept the level of annoyance by the little rotters to an inconsequential level while other people, unequipped with their own guardian dragonflies, seemed to be swatting regularly.  I shall continue the experiment throughout the remainder of the summer to see what conclusion can be reached on whether the scareflies actually work.  All the same, I’ll be bringing my Dollarama extensible flyswatter along with me, just in case.

The New Brunswick Naturist (NBN) Club

The New Brunswick Naturist Club (NBNC), let’s just call it the NBNC, that seems easier.  The last time I made mention of the NBNC within this blog we had a mere 53 members.  Now we have 120 members and I know for a fact there are many other naturists in NB who haven’t joined because they feel a need to fly below the radar.  So, with an increase of membership of substantially more than 100% I thought I should post a small blurb about the club.

The NBNC is a very loosely organized bunch of Atlantic Provinces’ naturists, most of them living within New Brunswick.  Our Facebook presence is our only real point of contact.  We don’t have meetings, we don’t pay dues, we don’t elect a slate of club officers or anything else one usually associates with a club.  We just have an aggregation of like-minded people or, sort of like they said in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, “we’re an autonomous collective.”  So far that has worked well enough for us.  We run into each other at the beach from time to time, have a chat, maybe have a beer, exchange news and views then go our separate ways.

Here is the group description quoted from the Facebook page:

The NB Naturist Club is a family-oriented, non-landed group, based in southern New Brunswick, founded in 2008. The group hopes to lobby government in order to enhance access to naturist beaches in N.B.

While the Province of Nova Scotia has agreed not to prosecute naturists for merely being nude on the beach area at Crystal Crescent, there is much more that needs to be done to improve access to the waters in New Brunswick. We need a location in NB like Crystal Crescent that officially recognizes naturism. There are locations that are used by naturists but are not well known by the general public.

The Club hopes to hold pool swims and other events during the winter so that naturists in the province can enjoy naturism year round. Various nudist groups in Halifax have been successful in gaining access to pool facilities and we look forward to having the same success here. Therefore our initial focus will be on finding a pool in New Brunswick that will give us access for nude recreation.

The group is primarily for naturists in New Brunswick and the other Atlantic Provinces of Canada. We ask that those prospective members in neighbouring provinces first join a group in their own province or the "Canadian Naturists" group.

Take note that this is a safe space. Harassment and begging for pix will not be tolerated.

PRINCIPLES

The NBNC adheres to the principles and definition of naturism agreed at the XIVth  Congress of the International Naturist Federation (Agde, France, 1974):
“a way of life in harmony with nature characterized by the practice of communal nudity with the intention of encouraging self-respect, respect for others and for the environment.”  
Communal nudity and respect for others demands that we be inclusive and social.  Those who advocate “couples only” naturism or any other sort of exclusive idea are free to go elsewhere.

For very good and valid reasons, both ethical and legal, we agree that the  practice of social nudity should be asexual.  Sex is all well and good in private places.  But in public places it becomes lewd conduct and those who engage in that are also free to form their own group.

The NBNC is a naturist club, not a nudist club.  Some people don’t see any difference between the two terms but, in my own opinion and the opinions of many other people there is an important divide.  Anyone can be a nudist, all one has to do is take one's clothes off.  Naturism is a state of mind, a belief system of sorts and an international movement.  Naturism is so much more than just taking your clothes off.  It isn’t really about nudity, that is merely the visible manifestation of a belief system with physical, psychological, social and moral benefits coupled with respect for the environment. As articulated by the INF naturism is all about respect for self, for others and for the environment – nature. It is a more natural mode of living in which ethical personal  nudity is the most visible marker.

APPLICATIONS TO JOIN

The NBNC on Facebook is a closed group so if you wish to join you must apply.   All applicants are asked to answer a short series of questions.  If you don’t answer the questions your request is automatically declined.  So please, if you are interested, be interested enough to read and answer the questions. 

Although most of our members live in New Brunswick there are some from the surrounding provinces and a few from farther afield who have ties to NB.   Unrelated and most international applicants are declined.  Sorry, but if we accepted every applicant the local people would soon be overwhelmed by others.

We vet all applications as much as we are able. Our goal is to keep the NBNC as a group of like-minded people.  If an applicant’s Facebook profile is closed or blank so that the group admins cannot get any sort of an idea about the person the application will likely be declined unless it comes with a recommendation from an existing member.  Sometimes mistakes are made but we rectify them as soon as we become aware of any problem.  That’s where member participation comes in.  In keeping with being an autonomous collective we are self-regulating.  People who apply to join under false pretenses or who transgress the principles of naturism or diverge from the group norms can and will be expelled from the NBNC. 

All this is in aid of being able to put our hands over our hearts and state truthfully that we represent true naturist principles.  Those who are minded to do otherwise can go elsewhere.

If you live in the Atlantic Provinces and you think that the NBNC might be your kind of folks feel free to apply.  The admins aren’t online every day but approvals usually occur within two or three days.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.