Imagine this: You are a resident of Haulover Beach in Miami, Fla., and you decide that is it a beautiful Sunday afternoon to go to the beach. You pile all the necessary beach supplies into your car and hustle down to the shore. The sun is shining, and the seagulls are hovering over the heads of screaming bystanders who foolishly believed that they could only feed the birds a single piece of stale bread. This sounds like a picturesque day — until you throw a bunch of naked people into the scene.
On Nov. 3, Haulover Beach was host to a multitude of nude bodies. This is not an unusual sighting on this particular beach, as Haulover is a proud “clothing-optional” beach; however, the magnitude of nudity on that day is noteworthy. On that lovely Sunday afternoon, 805 nudists gathered on the shoreline in hopes of setting the Guinness World Record for most skinny-dippers swimming in the same place.
According to GuinnessWorldRecords.com, the current holder of this record is El Playazo Beach by Vera Playa Friends in Almeria, Spain on July 21, when 729 nudists joined together to become world-record-famous and win the prize, though the participants of these organized events aren’t just doing this for the money. Most of the proceeds from these events are donated to the charity of their choice.
Despite what some people might believe, the road to winning this strange accomplishment in the Guinness World Records is not as simple as having an extraordinary amount of nudists come together and jump into the ocean.
The American Association for Nude Recreation is the official judge of these naked escapades that have taken place since the record’s addition to the Guinness World Records.
The AANR website states that its mission is to “advocate nudity and nude recreation in appropriate settings while educating and informing society of their value and enjoyment,” therefore making it the perfect judge.
The sponsor of this free-balling event was the South Florida Free Beaches Association, and its president, Richard Mason, described the preparation for this event as strenuous in an article by the Miami Herald.
In order to meet Guinness World Record requirements, all of the nudists involved in this event were required to wear wristbands and be counted before entering the water. Also, the participants were not allowed to freely barrel into the water with all their junk waving; these participants had to enter the water at the same location and pass through a “Guinness Gateway.”
Nov. 3 was not the first time herds of nudists came together to break this record at Haulover Beach.
In the same article by the Miami Herald, Mason said Nov. 3 was the third time Haulover Beach has tried to break the record. During SFFBA’s first attempt in 2009, it was not able to win because of missing requirements, while their second attempt was cancelled due to poor weather.
As long as these nude recreational activities continue to take place in designated areas, I have no problem with it. If complete strangers want to get together and go skinny-dipping to break a record, more power to them. Personally, I am not confident enough to flash my private business to people — especially while running into the ocean.
Guinness should let the people of Haulover Beach have their prize. They obviously want it badly enough to organize three events of over 800 naked people to run into the ocean. No one wants to have to see Haulover Beach organize this event a fourth time — as I’m sure they will if they aren’t recognized this time. Guinness, do it for the good of the public’s eyes.
Senior staff columnist Kelly Schafler is a print journalism junior and may be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com
—
“Nude beach in Florida hosts attempt to break Guinness World Record” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar