In my previous blogpost, I wrote about naturist volleyball tournaments throughout the US which I visit a couple of times a year, and last weekend it was the SunnyBowl at Sunny Rest Resort. Though it is the smallest one of its kind that I’ve been to, I could see many familiar faces from the naturist volleyball community. There were hardly enough people to make two teams in the novice division, where I’ve been playing so far, but then two of us joined the more advanced B-level teams. Let’s see where we’ll end up at the major naked volleyball Super Bowl in September! And when we were not playing volleyball or chilling by the pool, we played tennis. Well, or at least tried to – it was my first time actually! I love it when I try a new activity, and right away in the buff… as long as I don’t get fined for that, as was the case with acro-yoga! Well, this certainly wouldn’t happen at Sunny Rest, being a naturist resort. Their tennis courts are in great condition with rackets and balls provided for free. Enjoy these photos from our tennis match!
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Sorry for not having any imagery from the volleyball tournament itself, but you can (re)watch the videos in my previous blogpost, though they were shot at another resort. It seems like SunnyBowl is good at providing photo and video materials other than volleyball, as I shot a hypnotizing session of fire-spinning last year. By the way, I’m surprised that there is no big naturist tennis movement, although most naturist resorts are equipped with tennis courts. Maybe Sunny Rest should change that, and add ‘Sunny Open’ to its curriculum!
Sports in the buff is fun, and volleyball is probably the favorite game among naturists – perhaps because it is also a perfect beach sport? There are numerous naked volleyball tournaments, with more and more appearing every year, and the major ones in North America are listed at nudistvolleyball.com. This weekend we have SunnyBowl at Sunny Rest Resort, where I’ve been many times for the 7k trail race. I’m going with my friends Casey, the winner of the trail race in 2014, and Dan, another contributor to this blog, but I’m also looking forward to seeing my numerous friends from the naturist volleyball community. And although the uniting theme is volleyball, some participants contribute with other activities, such as DJing or fire-spinning, as I filmed at SunnyBowl last year. What is really nice about naturist volleyball events is that there are players of all levels of experience, from complete novice to professional, so you’ll surely find a team where you can fit well! The biggest naturist tournament in volleyball is held at White Thorn Lodge in Pennsylvania, and when I visited it for the first time 2 years ago, the level of games simply blew my mind! But I also found it strange that none of that was photographed and filmed. I thought that awesomeness was too good not to be shared with the rest of the world, and dreamt to change that. Here is our first attempt: a friendly match of Tiki-Tomba teammates at the Banana Rum Cup in White Tail resort, Virginia. Hopefully you’ll get to see their finals someday too! Meanwhile enjoy our two videos: a one-minute promo (above), and a five-minute footage that should give you an impression of the full match (below).
A good game starts with a good serve,
and when the players are nude, you can see how the whole body is engaged right away.
Here, the volleyball classics meets the Ancient Greek athlete classics.
It is equally impressive that after such powerful serves, the opposite team is able to respond!
And in this photo below, you can get a glimpse of how we shot the video.
This is how it went:
And just a few words about White Tail resort: it’s a large nudist community with permanent residents and a motorhome park, but also with a lot of space for campers coming for an event like Banana Rum Cup. Their party hall is probably the biggest I’ve seen at a naturist resort. There is a big L-shaped outdoor pool, a hot tub, and a pretty big heated pool with glass walls and ceiling – perfect for chilling in bad weather. We actually got pretty unlucky with the weather, as on the day of the finals it was unseasonably cold, but that pool area allowed us hanging out in the buff in comfort even while there was chilling rain outside…
In the other related news, my friend Josh and I installed the second volleyball net at our local Sandy Hook beach. There used to be two nets until the hurricane Sandy destroyed one them, and often enough it was hard to get on the one and only court to play volleyball when the beach would get busy during summer weekends. We played a bit with a portable net, but it wasn’t very stable; and it’s quite a hassle to put it up and down every time… So, Josh and I independently had been thinking about setting up a more stable net, but when we talked about it, there was no reason to delay any longer, and just a week later we had everything ready.
As soon as we made the measurements and started digging a hole for the first pole, we got a couple more helpers = new friends.
And there it was –
just ready before the nightfall! Having two nets will surely make it easier for Sandy Hook beachgoers to get engaged with volleyball.
So, whether you are at a nudist resort or beach, keep calm and play naked!
This blogpost is a bit unusual for this blog, as it is dedicated to just one video, and it is more of an artistic value than informative re naturist activities. Though, of course it features a naturist, and a very active one. (On the other hand, you needn’t go much further than the previous post to see that naturism and art can be a great blend.) I shot this video when I went to Sunny Bowl, yet another naked volleyball tournament, at Sunny Rest, a nudist resort in Pennsylvania that readers of this blog may know from my reports on the annual 7k trail race there. I love these events as they attract many people who are both into sports and hanging out naked – my favorite combo – but then there is always even more to them than just sports. So, this time too, our games and parties were accompanied by excellent music with DJ Ashley Crawford and a great fire show, which is what the video is about. As I watched the original videos, I had a tune in my head that was just released right after that weekend (‘Opus’ by Erick Prydz), and somehow it clicked that it would fit perfectly to the fire spinning show. I first thought I’d select just a a few short clips and combine them into a minute long video, but after playing with different speeds, I wanted to overlay the video on the whole track. I highly recommend watching this video in the dark for the best, hypnotic effect; put it in full screen mode, turn the music up, sit back and enjoy!
On another note, watching this naked man spinning fire poi, it’s hard not to think of Burning Man – he’s a perfect personification of the festival! By the way, preparations are in full swing for our theme camp, Gymnasium. If you have a ticket and would like to join, contact us, we have place for a couple more people! Too bad that this guy won’t be there, but I’ll see him and many other naturist volleyball friends at the Naked Volleyball SuperBowl, which is right after Burning Man.
A couple of weeks ago, I participated in a trail race that has now become a yearly tradition for me – 4th time at the ‘Bouncing Buns’ race at Sunny Rest, PA, with the 5th result overall out of about 130 participants. Most of my naked runner fellows couldn’t join me this time, including Casey, who came first last year but had an injury this June. My result (30:51) has improved by a lot compared to the previous, but it wasn’t as good as in 2013 (even though I was 7th) and 2012 (when I was 3rd). But it doesn’t really make sense to compare the results here rigorously, as the track and length of the race varies from year to year. This time the trail was a bit easier in terms of lack of very steep uphills/downhills and extended parts where you had to run over wet rocks and roots, like last year, but there was more running through the tunnels of rhododendron bush and a pretty long uphill part towards the end of the race (where some of the frontrunners almost stopped). In other words, it was still lots of fun 😉
Here is a recap video for you that we made with Peter, so you get an idea of what it was like. It was the first time I used my GoPro camera in this way, so next time it’ll be better (I have some ideas for free-running/chasing vids, stay tuned!)
Maybe you also remember that “floating bed” in the woods at Sunny Rest 2 years ago. Well, now it’s gone (pretty much entirely rotten), and the only thing left are the ropes hanging on the trees. We thought it was fun to climb walk up the trees using those 🙂
We weren’t the only ones around to climb trees
or hang from them either…
(Some trees were actually full of these caterpillars – what’s happening this year? Not enough birds to eat them?)
As we went on a hike, we saw a very old rusty car in the middle of the woods,
which by now is impossible to guess how it got there, being completely surrounded by trees. It reminded me of the abandoned settlement of several houses, also in the woods of Pennsylvania, that we discovered 3 years ago, and where a car with bullet holes also rusted… But here, it was just this one car with nothing else around…
If you go to the edge of the forest, you may get some picturesque views of the fields.
But I don’t think you’re allowed to venture out [naked] onto those fields. The forest itself is quite picturesque too; here is a “field” of ferns.
This time we witnessed the beginning of rhododendron blooming season,
as this majestic bush was adorned with flowers of
fifty (???)
shades of pink.
I hope to get back to ‘Bouncing Buns’ race next year with a bigger team again, but I’ll be back to Sunny Rest Resort even sooner – the weekend of 25-26 July is SunnyBowl, a pretty big volleyball tournament there that promises to be fun! See you there?
Naturists playing volleyball is a cliché, but I think it’s a good one! Let me know if I’m wrong, but apparently the largest naturist sport event (after the original Olympics in Ancient Greece were prohibited) is a volleyball tournament which takes place every September in Western Pennsylvania – The Original Naked Volleyball Superbowl. As its venue, White Thorn Lodge, is probably all white in snow right now, before reporting on our experience there, I’d like to announce that a similar event will take place in one month in the Sunshine State of Florida: the 14th Annual Super Bowl South Ten Day Volleyball Tournament. Well, quite a bit of information has been included in the name already, so I’ll just add that it takes place at Lake Como resort in Tampa area from 6th to 15th of March, with finals on the last day. See you there 😉
Here is a promo video for this event. If you notice, they don’t really show much of the volleyball game itself though, and yet it’s more than the bigger event in Pennsylvania allows: although this blog usually features photos and videos to accompany most texts, absolutely no photos were allowed at the Volleyball Superbowl at White Thorn Lodge. I’d like to hear your opinions about it, but I find it unfortunate. If naturist movement wants to promote body acceptance and normality of nudity, it seems counterproductive to forbid photography and video at such a big event as Volleyball Superbowl, as it may only reaffirm general public’s opinion that nudity is something to be ashamed of or at best suitable only for private/secretive setting. Sport events make the top most watched TV broadcasts – the Summer Olympics, football and rugby World Cups, Tour de France etc. globally, and Super Bowl in USA – so it appears that naturism fails on capitalizing on demand for sport videos to popularize the movement. And it’s a pity even more so, because such videos would promote naturism as an active and healthy lifestyle.
Well, actually there is an article and a video by ESPN about the Naked Volleyball Superbowl, but unfortunately, it doesn’t do justice, in my opinion, because all photos seem to be staged and everything possible was made to conceal genitalia and women’s nipples. (Good move, ESPN, with your Body Issue series, but it’s kind of only a half-move for the aforementioned reasons…)
As a result of such policies, if you search for illustrations of naked volleyball games, as I did for the article on nudity in sports, you’ll be swamped with porn links with hardly any legitimate material in sight! Needless to say, it would send a wrong message to someone who just started getting into naturism and would look for more information and examples of naturist activities. Surprisingly, there are a lot more videos of naked skydiving and rock climbing than of naked volleyball!
Is there any solid reason behind such strict rules at the Naked Volleyball Superbowl and some other similar events? Perhaps the organizers are afraid that many people wouldn’t want to be outed as naturists publicly, and if they allowed photography and TV, fewer visitors would come and some would feel uncomfortable (which, again, is contrary to naturist philosophy of nudity’s normality). But such events as the World Naked Bike Ride attract even larger numbers of participants, and nudity is on display in front of much larger audiences in some of the world cities such as London (as opposed to private nudist clubs)… Perhaps a solution to keep ‘shy’ people happy at the Naked Volleyball Superbowl and the like would be giving out wristbands of different colors to those who are fine with being photographed and those who aren’t, and make the photographers and TV crew sign release papers accordingly…
The only argument against photography that I personally would [maybe] accept from the organizers is if their intention were that participants enjoyed the immediacy of the event. This is how no-photo policy is explained at the ‘Output’ nightclub in New York, for example. While I don’t necessarily feel that I personally lose immediacy every time I take a picture (sometimes even on contrary, I get deeper into the moment taking a picture of it), at least such an argument at naturist events wouldn’t send you to the assumption that nudity is somehow shameful 😉
Regardless of the photography issue, there were many moments to enjoy at the Naked Volleyball Superbowl. I went with two friends – Tam and Mat 😀 – and immediately upon arrival we made a few new friends. From people at the reception to our campsite neighbors, everybody wanted to make sure that we had everything necessary for a comfortable stay. It was indeed very helpful, because my other friend Don had to cancel his trip last minute, and he was supposed to bring some camping gear. In the end, everything went smoothly, and we greatly appreciated friendliness of White Thorn Lodge members and so as fellow campers who also came specifically for the event: we were offered to use the grill, a ride to Pittsburgh on the way back, and were invited to dinners and parties. Some camps, such as Quebec’ team and Tiki-Tamba, had decent sound systems and DJs, so at night the atmosphere was very much of a festival.
We went with the idea to play lots of volleyball, but we didn’t realize the event was indeed that serious about the sport. It actually turned into a volleyball marathon of three full days! On Friday, we built our team with our campsite neighbor John, his friend from local community and that friend’s friend’s teenage daughter. So, our team pretty much reflected the open nature of this event! With around a thousand participants (in some years, up 1500!), Naked Volleyball Superbowl truly brings all kinds of people together. Some arrive with fully formed teams, others find teammates on the spot. This diversity is also reflected in volleyball skills, as competition includes men’s and women’s AA, A and B classes, and multiple mixed C/Novice level teams. We started as a novice team but on Saturday were upgraded to C (Novice+). Sunday was the day of the actual competition, by which we were quite exhausted. None of us had much experience with volleyball, but we did pretty well, at least better than we expected, just failing to reach the finals. It was also nice to walk around and watch other matches, which differed quite a lot, depending on the surface (grass, sand, asphalt) and levels. After corn roast in the afternoon, the event culminated with men’s AA finals. I’d never seen volleyball of such high level and was amazed that it looked like a totally different beast from volleyball games that you see at a beach typically. This was inspiring and impressive, and nudity made the whole experience only more exciting. After seeing this game, where the volleyball was certainly not the only kind of balls bouncing around, I could assure that the claim by some naturist skeptics that vigorous activities are not suitable to do naked because certain body parts would “move too much” and “get hurt” is complete bollocks! Well, perhaps such skeptics should consider the Russian version of the proverb that a bad workman always blames his tools, which is ‘плохому танцору и яйца мешают’ and literally means ‘a bad dancer is impeded even by [his own] balls’. 😀
I can’t wait for the naked Volleyball Super Bowl South in Florida and then hope to practice volleyball more at Sandy Hook beach this summer to be in better shape for the tournament at White Thorn Lodge again!
After having maintained a nude yoga group with my friends for almost two years at private locations, we are finally going public. Starting from this Wednesday, we will have a weekly class in Harlem at 9pm with Michael. He is a very experienced and talented yoga instructor, and we are very lucky that he will teach us. He will also join us again for the second yoga retreat at the Woods campground on the first weekend of August 1st-3rd.
Feel free to comment here or contact me by e-mail for more details about the class and retreat. You’re also welcome to just stop by. We are offering $15 per class for frequent visitors who are ready to buy a 10 pack for $150 or single class for $20. As for the retreat, you’re also welcome to just join us at the Woods campground, but if you drive from New York City, we’ll appreciate any carpool options. The retreat is purely donation-based, and all costs will be shared!
Meanwhile, get inspired by these pictures of Michael stretching out at the great Sandy Hook beach!
His routine includes some sophisticated poses and transitions that require advances flexibility,
but don’t worry, he’s a good teacher and will make sure that everyone is comfortable at their level of experience.
The doggy yogi classics is certainly on the menu too.
However, it’s always nice to see something challenging to aspire to.
We also like partner stretches and acro-yoga; below are photos from our spontaneous session last September at Sandy Hook.
Partner exercises turn yoga into an interactive experience
and allow deeper stretches.
Some poses even involve more than 2 partners.
Join our nude yoga group, and your body and mind will thank you!
Last weekend my friends and I teamed up for the naked trail race at Sunny Rest naturist resortin Pennsylvania, and we scored two trophies, including the absolute first! Yes, one of us, Casey, ran that tough 6km trail in just 27 min 47 sec. David brought another trophy for the 4th male under 39 years old (8th total). I was 13th, but I was happy I could run the race at all, as I wasn’t sure how my ankle would feel still not fully recovered from the injury that I got after I was run over by car in January. This was my third year attending the race, and although the route have gotten shorter from 7 to 6km, it has also acquired some steep slopes this time. Probably for this reason, besides the injury, my result was 3min longer than last year despite a shorter track (32:16). It’s a pity another prize-winning ‘Team America’ from last year didn’t show up this time, but there was more than enough competition with 159 participants.
I was also recognized by one of the readers of my blog, who actually said he was inspired by it to participate in the race. This kind of comment is probably the best praise I could expect from my blog, this is what keeps me motivated to run it!
After the award ceremony, we ate lunch and I was glad to find out that the restaurant at Sunny Rest has improved tremendously and offers now a diverse menu of pretty good quality. Then we rested from the race in the pool and hot tub… but not for too long, as we also wanted to play volleyball. We had a few fun matches but needed even more rest afterwards, so we mostly hung out at the sauna and hot tubs in the evening. Next day, our activities started with yoga at the lawn near the tenting site followed by a short hike, partially on the trail that was used for the race.
The outskirts of a field proved to be a good spot for nude photography.
We played with just 3 players in each team, but it was still a lot of fun.
We all concluded that we should play it more often, so maybe we’ll build up a team some day. And maybe it will be as successful in rugby as in running? 🙂
Last minute announcement: This coming Sunday, we’ll be at Sandy Hook beach with two yoga instructors from the group that I organized a few months ago. There are several yoga groups in New York City that practice yoga naked (see my review of Zensual yoga, for example), but my group started as much less formal gathering of friends; now it’s become a regular, weekly class with 2 rotating instructors and more visiting, and a dozen or so students, and we’ve even had a retreat at the Woods campground!
I haven’t announced this group on this blog because it was meant mainly for friends, and it grew fast enough with word of mouth. During summer, we’ve been holding classes at the rooftop of one of us in Uptown Manhattan in the evenings. Well, the sky in Manhattan isn’t very starry, but even so it is pretty amazing to stretch out on the roof under stars… and airplanes. I must say after getting used to doing yoga al fresco and au naturel, it would be hard to practice it any other way. The weather seems to be great on Sunday, you can join us at Gunnison Beach at Sandy Hook (see my previous blogpost for the ferry coupon) to do some yoga under the sun and try something like this:
Partner stretch/acro-yoga class was probably the most popular at our retreat in the Woods. Besides that, it was also pretty amazing to have an awakening morning yoga session listening to the rain (that one we did under the roof). After that, we covered ourselves with mud and did the no-rain dance, so the sky was clear throughout the rest of the retreat weekend. This time, it looks like we don’t even need that, the forecast is fine 🙂
In the season of the World Naked Bike Ride across the Northern Hemisphere, there is another chance for active naturists to become also naturist activists: Bouncing Buns 7k Trail Race in Pennsylvania for American Cancer Society on the 22nd of June, Saturday next week! 7km is the longest distance that I’ve seen for a naked or clothing-optional race (correct me, if I’m wrong), it’s good to be challenged, moreover for a good cause. Well, last year, I passed the challenge pretty well, coming in third! It looks like this time I will go with several people, so competition grows even among my buddies! I hope to see some of my readers there too.
Also, I was asked to remind about the traditional Summer Solstice Hike in Vermont by its organiser Ed. I haven’t taken part in this one, but it sounds really great:
“A group of us gets together to celebrate the Summer Solstice on the The Appalachian Trail in Vermont. It’s on Fri, June 21st and anyone is welcome to join us. This is a 10 mile hike with plenty of photo ops, a swim in Little Rock Pond and maybe camping overnight. We meet at the parking lot on USFS #10 at 9AM. This road is off of US Rte 7 in Danby. From the south you take a right onto Brooklyn Ave, cross over the railroad tracks and drive for a boy 4 miles and the parking lot is on the right where the AT crosses. Here is a pic of the swim in Little Rock Pond.”
In my previous post, I promised to continue about queer woods of Pennsylvania that were only going to get queerer, so here is where we ended up on another hot summer weekend: not a haunted house this time, but a lively campground, ‘the Woods’, oriented to gay and lesbian clientele. As you can expect from the name, it is located in the woods in the rural part of Pennsylvania. Most people stay in trailers or cabins, but you can also opt for a tent. The atmosphere is very laid-back, so clothing-optional policy only helps to ease your mind; on the other hand, they organise themed weekends, so you’re likely to find company with similar interests. Needless to say, it was a nudist weekend, when I was there with more than a dozen of naked friends.
One of the obvious things to do in the woods is, of course, hiking, and ‘the Woods’ provide plenty of room for hiking au naturel.
There are designated trails on the territory that belongs to the campground, but when we ended up at the edge of the Christmas tree farm, it was hard to resist posing in front of those in my favourite attire… I wouldn’t mind this kind of Christmas!
This guy in fur coat was clearly overdressed. It wasn’t a white Christmas!
Or was it?
There was a field full of chamomiles.
The field was so big, it seemed easy to get lost there!
So we returned to the campground for lunch and some relaxing time by the pool. There is also a small lake, but surprisingly very few people use it. Maybe this funny warning note is to blame for that.
Of course, it didn’t stop me from swimming there. To me, presence of fish is rather a sign of a healthy lake.
Shallow area in the middle of the lake indeed had numerous nests of sunfish.
But you can also explore the pond without getting wet: a pedal boat and a canoe are provided as well.
You can also see it as a work out: first legs,
then upper body 😉
And maybe some balancing exercises on a small rock in the middle of the lake?
I wasn’t the only one to claim the rock, but its true owner is this pond slider turtle.
Next to the pond, there was a sunlit meadow full of daylillies.
Activities don’t stop at ‘the Woods’ at night. They even offer a midnight hike! Many people have actually joined. Just watch out for ticks (it’s actually good to stay naked, so they cannot hide in and under clothes). The nights when we stayed were very warm, but in case it cools down, there are two hot tubs and a huge fire as well.
What else do you need to stay warm than a bunch of naked friends and a fire?
Active Naturists 