Wild Swimming is, apparently, now a very popular thing around the UK and in parts of Europe.

So much so that I’ve found out the BBC3 television channel have previously undertaken a series of programmes on it, with presenter Alice Roberts going skinny dipping in a tarn in Yorkshire. The other main channel in the UK, ITV, have also done something similar with British actor Robson Green sharing his love of wild swimming.

What is wild swimming? It’s essentially a case of going swimming in bodies of water where you would not normally expect to find swimming taking place.

I wasn’t previously aware of this as ‘a thing’, but I’ve spent the afternoon researching it, and was delighted to find a number of websites and books dedicated to the practice, and that naturism, or skinny dipping, are often found in close association.

You’ll find other websites here and here, and books on the topic here and here (this is not an exhaustive list of sites or books). From what I can see it is mainly a British based phenomenon, in terms of television programmes, books and websites, although you may be aware of websites, books or TV programmes in your own country and if you are, please let me know so I can add them to a list of links.

A word of warning: wild swimming is not without its dangers. The water is liable to often be very cold, and there could be hidden dangers lurking under what may well be very dark water, so extreme caution should be exercised in all aspects of the sport/pastime. I’d advise the use of wet suits where sensible, not immersing yourself in such icy bodies of water if you have medical conditions, remain aware of keeping within your depth -at least until you become very familiar with the water you’re using- and never swim alone in a ‘wild swimming’ situation.

My own web-based research into the topic did seem to create a very close relationship with skinny dipping, possibly a core element of its appeal, which certainly gladdens my heart and makes me want to investigate the topic, as something organised, more closely.

An image search for ‘wild swimming’ certainly infers a close association to nude (or at least, topless) bathing.

I mention this because before SL Naturist began I would have sought out places in SL where I could have indulged a little isolated skinny dipping and the other evening I found a folder in which I’d saved some slurls to these locations. All are long gone now, of course, but it got me thinking as to whether it was still possible to find some particularly photogenic ‘wild swimming’, or skinny dipping, locations in Second Life.

Well, of course it is: it’s very easy. But the trick would be to locate somewhere remote, beautiful yet not ‘naturist’ as such, to add a frisson of danger to the subsequent photo sessions. Could I ask several of my SL friends to seek out new locations and bring back a portfolio, complete with slurls, where you too, as a SL avatar, could indulge yourself in such a simple pleasure?

Let’s ask them.

Ella

Being a bit older myself -I’m 55- regular readers will know that I’ve turned up on the pages of SLN to write, almost exclusively, about the ‘older avatar’. With SL fixated on being full of young and beautiful avatars, there’s sometimes a sense of me being a bit-part player in SLN, and that’s correct. I’m a semi-regular player and when I started writing for the blog I wouldn’t even have classified myself as naturist.

I’d have skinny dipped if opportunity had presented itself, and I occasionally did with my late husband, when we’d head down to a dark bit of beach on holiday, strip off and splash around in the water like people who’d stripped away 20 years with our clothes. Equally I felt comfortable fully nude in the changing rooms of my local swimming pool when other, younger women were occasionally giving me scornful looks. But I wasn’t one for social, mixed gender nudity.

I joined SL following my husband’s death around five years ago, simply as a form of social interaction, and fell into the naturist element of SL by accident. One of my SL friends invited me to an SL naturist venue for a dance and it was there I slipped out of my pixel clothes for the first time. It was also where I first met Ella. (Ella adds: I’d forgotten that! Yes, we met at Manatee Naturist!)

I enjoyed the very social aspect of the location, and it didn’t feel embarrassing. After all, it was only a cartoon ‘me’ on the screen. I became familiar with naturist etiquette through socialising, in SL, with some of those RL naturists. I still wasn’t a particularly regular SL user. I’m still not. But I did enjoy playing it sometimes and I was drawn back to the more sociable naturist venue my friend introduced me to.

Last year I met a wonderful man and found the chance to find love again, another reason why I’m not so regular a contributor to these pages. I honestly felt that love, cuddles, feeling attractive and sexually active with someone else might have been a thing of the past.

My new love is 60 and also widowed and while we were in the stages of getting to know one another he confessed that he’d always harboured a desire to be a naturist but his wife would hear none of it. It was his big secret, his big desire. I laughed when he told me this, and confessed to being an occasional writer for a blog that dealt with naturism in a virtual world. He loved the idea and, last year, joined Second Life. His work meant that he was located some distance from me during the week, and so our face to face meetings were confined to weekends. During the week, however, we would talk on a daily basis, on the phone, on Skype and yes indeed, through Second Life.

In time, our relationship developed, emotionally and physically 🙂 and not only were we enjoying a renewed and possibly unexpected sexuality for real, but also -should I blush here?- cybering when we were parted during the working week. (Ella adds: Barbara! You dark horse! 🙂 )

Last summer, we went on vacation together and yes, indeed, we plotted part of it to be naturist, spending time on the La Jenny complex in France. Naturist with each other, naturist within sight of our neighbours, and eventually naturist by the pool and on the beach. It was wonderful! I wished I’d been naturist years, decades before. 

All those articles that Ella and Pookes had contributed almost ended up as a guidebook. Of course I read SLN, even when I’m not contributing! Through their experiences I felt I knew a little of what to expect. Their words very much had a truth running through them. Yes, the first time is daunting and yes, you quickly become unaware of your nudity and, yes, it does get to be a totally natural way of being.

One thing we noticed was that many naturists our age and older (and younger) are shaved, while neither of us were and it made me feel a little out of place from time to time, as if I wasn’t quite properly (un) dressed. I got talking to one lady who said that she’d made the decision to become fully shaved due to thinning pubic hair, an inevitability of age and the menopause.

At Christmas we decided we should repeat the experience, and we’ll be jetting off to Croatia this summer to enjoy our second naturist vacation. We also made a New year resolution to be fully depilated this year, and thus we both went ‘bare down there’.

It itched, it left us with razor rash, we wondered if it was right for us, but we persevered, and I have to say that we’re now delighted with the look and feel of being fully shaved.

And of course my avatar must reflect real life 🙂 In that respect, too, I’m delighted with my avatar’s new, permanent look.

Second Life offers us the chance to re-invent ourselves completely. Sometimes, real life offers us the chance to do the same. 🙂

Barbara.

Any of us who use Second Life will be aware that all avatars will have a name tag above their head. Here I am (below), with a screen cap taken to show those who don’t use SL how it works. (Yeah, sorry for yet another new hairstyle! 🙂 )

It certainly helps to identify people, and you can begin a conversation in a friendly manner with a cheery ‘Hello Pookes’ rather than making formal introductions -and then not remember half the names in a crowd anyway. Yes, you can choose to turn it off when in world, but exceptionally few avatars do. But this subject of adding a name tag, particularly in naturist circles, in nothing new!

We can clearly read that the lady on the right is called Phyllis, and the lady with the flowers has a name beginning with ‘G’. Gwen? This photo comes from White Oaks Lodge naturist club in America, taken sometime in the 1960s, I’m informed. It apparently served two purposes. One, being able to walk up to someone, such as the lady identified above, and say ‘Hello, Phyllis, how are you today?’ An informal, friendly approach.

I did some research and was able to discover that it had a secondary purpose. The Nudist Clubhouse website tells me that, in relation to the thorny question of whether people wished to be photographed at naturist clubs, Everybody would have their colour-coded first names written on their upper arms at the time of registration: GREEN or BLACK indicated unrestricted photography with signed release on file; YELLOW meant “okay on a picture-by-picture basis and release had to be obtained;” and RED for absolutely no pictures allowed.

I’ve seen such photos before and always assumed identification was the sole purpose, but it seems we can all learn something new about naturist history every day.

Pookes