I rediscovered the joys of skinny dipping a couple of weeks ago, when
I stripped off my swimsuit and plunged into Lake Austin after an
early-morning water ski session.
I promise I was discreet. Oh what a feeling!
For those who prefer their skinny dipping with lots of other
like-minded folks, the Star Ranch, a nudist resort 20 miles east of
Austin in McDade, will host a group skinny dip at 2 p.m. Saturday, July
10.
Last year, 155 people crowded into the resort’s pool, sans clothing,
for the event, part of an attempt by the American Association for Nude
Recreation to set a new world record for skinny dipping.
The folks out at Star Ranch love this sort of thing. For the last 13
years, they’ve hosted a Bare Buns Fun Run, encouraging people to sprint
across the grounds wearing nary a shred of clothing.
When they are not running around or hopping into pools in the buff,
the residents are dining at their own Nekkid Lunch Cafe, playing darts,
tennis, sand volleyball, shuffleboard or horse shoes, cooking in the
community kitchen or hiking the 112-acre property’s wooded trails. The
resort also hosts holiday potlucks, costume parties, chili cookoffs and
bakeoffs.
Star Ranch was founded in 1958 as “The Sahnoans at Tara Park” nudist
camp. The club incorporated in 1972 and adopted the name “The Sahnoans
at Star Ranch.” Sahnoan is a Native American word meaning “healthy one.”
Today it has RV and motor home sites, rental cabins and plenty of
space to pitch a tent.
The gate fee will be reduced from the usual $25 to just $5 per person
for the July 10 skinny dip. Background checks will be done on everyone
who enters the property. Anyone who wants to be in the pool for a group
photo will have to sign a release.
“Security will be tight,” says Star Ranch representative David
Phillips. “If someone gets up to the pool or is seen around the grounds
looking like a Hippie Hollow ogler, he’ll be shown the gate.”
For more information on Star Ranch, go to http://www.starranch.net/index.htm.
The photo above by the Associated Press shows skinny dippers at the
Whispering Pines Nudist Resort and Campground in Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.,
taking part in the American Association for Nude Recreation World
Record Skinny Dip.
