The inaugural World Naked Sailing Day has been held in Buffalo, New York, with sailors around the globe also taking part
The first World Naked Sailing Day (WNSD) has taken place, with organisers hoping it will become an annual event.
It has been held in Buffalo, New York, following the success of the annual World Naked Bike Ride and World Naked Gardening Day in the city.
And with Buffalo being on the shores of Lake Erie in upstate New York, is it perhaps not surprising that sailing should be the next activity to be embraced by those who want to strip off and enjoy the great outdoors.
The day, which took place on 1 August, was sponsored by the online grassroots magazine, Buffalo Rising.
In an article, its founder, Newell Nussbaumer, explained why they chose the date.
“We decided that August 1 would be the perfect day for WNSD due to the numbers in the day. August is represented by the number 8, signifying a woman’s breasts. And the 1 signified a guy’s bishop,” he wrote.
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Nussbaumer said he was “astounded by the sheer number of people who wanted to strip down and sail”, and the number of requests to sign up for nude sailing in the future.
And it wasn’t just Buffalonian sailors taking part.
One sailor at Cowes Week, who wanted to remain anonymous but gave YBW.com permission to use his picture, decided to get into the spirit of things.
“I saw it was World Naked Sailing Day on Facebook and shared it, joking that it would go down well on the RYS start line during Cowes Week. Several people dared me, then the boat did so I made a very quick appearance on the finish line,” he said.
Kali Aevermann and Steve Groh from the Clean Sailing Project based in Annapolis, USA, also took part.
“Sailing is the beauty of working with the natural elements. It just feels right doing that naked,” said the pair, who organise local waterway clean up and plan on doing clean up based charters where clothing will be optional.
And as well as being a day dedicated to being “au naturel”, Nussbaumer said they hoped World Naked Sailing Day would help publicise a vital environmental message too.
“We want the day of nude sailing to raise awareness of the importance of clean air and clean water. Now that’s something that we can all get behind,” he added.