This Summer, Fire Island Isn’t the Place to Bare All

[garbon]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/nyregion/crackdown-on-nudity-planned-for-fire-island-beach.html?_r=0

New Yorkers who want to be naked at the beach this summer might want to head to New Jersey.

The last major sanctuary in the state to frolic in the ocean without a swimsuit, Lighthouse Beach on Fire Island, will begin enforcing a state ban on nudity.

"Twenty years ago, people would go down there to sunbathe," said Lena Koschmann, the chief ranger of Fire Island National Seashore, a unit of the National Park Service. "Fast forward to today. You have thousands of people and you have more of a party atmosphere. There has also been an increase in lewd and lascivious behavior, more voyeurism, more exhibitionism."

While New York State enacted a law in 1984 prohibiting public nudity, many beaches are operated with the Park Service, which has no ban. So for years park rangers in some places where nudists gathered simply let them be. But this summer that will change, officials said, making a North Jersey beach the nearest public area to legally relax outdoors unclothed.

Lighthouse is by far New York State's most popular beach for nudists, though naturists also gather at the eastern end of Jacob Riis Park in Queens.

In recent years, according to Park Service officials, the crowds at popular nude enclaves have grown and behavior has changed, especially on Fire Island.

Ms. Koschmann said rangers on the island spent a majority of their time patrolling the one-mile stretch of beach where nudity was tolerated. "Fire Island has always been known as a place that is a little more liberal," she said, noting it became a refuge for gay people years ago, when there was less tolerance in New York City.

"It has always been a place where you can go be free and do your own thing," she said. The Park Service, she said, was respectful of that history and long relied on beachgoers to police themselves.

But with the growth of social media sites promoting the libertine pleasures of Lighthouse Beach, the crowds have become larger and the behavior coarser. For instance, park officials point out that a casual Internet search turns up dozens of solicitations for public sex on Fire Island beaches.

Still, the dunes along the beach provided a buffer for those in the buff. But Hurricane Sandy wiped out many of the dunes, meaning that nude sunbathers would be that much more visible to bathers who might be offended.

On Feb. 5, the Park Service issued a letter stating its plan to enforce the state ban. The letter specifically addresses the beaches on Fire Island, but park officials said the same guidelines applied to all New York beaches operated by the Park Service. The issuing of the letter was reported on Tuesday by Newsday.

Anyone found in violation of the law — a class B misdemeanor — could face a fine of $5,000 and six months in jail.

"It is just really disappointing and people are really upset about it," said Felicity Jones, a founder of Young Naturists and Nudists America, which is based in New York. "I think a lot of people will end up going to Gunnison Beach in New Jersey."

Located on Sandy Hook at the northern tip of the Jersey Shore, Gunnison Beach has long been a favorite, and legal, spot for nudists. Originally home to a military base, Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook opened as part of the Gateway National Recreation Area in 1975. The area is also administered by the Park Service.

For years, Gunnison Beach was something of a secret among area nudists. But in 2003, the Seastreak ferry began summer service to Sandy Hook from the city, making it possible for a banker on Wall Street to go from power suit to birthday suit in less than an hour.

"For people who live in New York City, there are not a lot of alternatives," Ms. Jones said. "You really have to leave the city to be outdoors and naked."

Ms. Jones, 24, said that while Hurricane Sandy might have forced the park rangers' hand, nudity on Fire Island had been stirring more and more controversy.

The lighthouse, which was refurbished more than two decades ago, is popular with families and schoolchildren, and Ms. Koschmann estimated that 10 percent of the 900,000 annual visitors to the island visited the site.

As a compromise of sorts, people on a small portion of the beach directly in front of the lighthouse were required to wear clothes.

But with more and more people flocking to the beach in expectation of more hedonistic pursuits, park officials said, clothing-optional was no longer an option.

Some nudists still might go to Jacob Riis beach, Ms. Jones said, "but it is more of a civil disobedience thing."

At Jacob Riis Park in Queens, a fence originally installed to cordon off tuberculosis patients at a nearby hospital served for years as the line between the "adult" section of the beach and the more "family friendly" area. Tropical Storm Irene tore it down in 2011.

With the two populations mixing more frequently, the local community board petitioned Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2012 to take action to limit the behavior at the eastern edge of the beach.

City officials said at the time that they were working with the Park Service to adopt a comprehensive approach to the beach. Nudists have said that resulted in a crackdown.

Ms. Koschmann said officials with the Park Service recognized that for many, nude sunbathing was a way of life. While park officials can no longer tacitly condone nudity, she said, rangers "can't be everywhere all the time."

So for those who want to take their clothes off, the best bet might be to find a quiet — and out-of-sight — patch of sand.

Somehow I find it hard to believe that behavior has become coarser. It's just that now that now that there are internet solicitations, it is now easier to spot.

[Malthus]

Heh, there was a ravine in Toronto which was a well-known and well-attended crusing spot. No-one cared much, because the guys in there never bothered anyone. When my friend and I were in our stoner phase we'd meet up in there at night to smoke pot, and even though she's a small woman, we never worried about them - it was fun to sit on the hill while stoned and watch them following each other about and up into the woods by moonlight - 'looks like that one got one! No, he's back again, must've struck out ...'   

[garbon]

Yeah that's what I'm thinking. These cruising spots aren't new or more raucous by any means => people just have started to pay more attention.

[Eddie Teach]

Heh, there was a ravine in Toronto which was a well-known and well-attended crusing spot. No-one cared much, because the guys in there never bothered anyone. When my friend and I were in our stoner phase we'd meet up in there at night to smoke pot, and even though she's a small woman, we never worried about them - it was fun to sit on the hill while stoned and watch them following each other about and up into the woods by moonlight - 'looks like that one got one! No, he's back again, must've struck out ...'   

Seems you should have been more worried about yourself...

[Malthus]

Heh, there was a ravine in Toronto which was a well-known and well-attended crusing spot. No-one cared much, because the guys in there never bothered anyone. When my friend and I were in our stoner phase we'd meet up in there at night to smoke pot, and even though she's a small woman, we never worried about them - it was fun to sit on the hill while stoned and watch them following each other about and up into the woods by moonlight - 'looks like that one got one! No, he's back again, must've struck out ...'   

Seems you should have been more worried about yourself...

Meh, I never had any trouble.  People looking to cruse are harmless. I was more worried the would attract bashers or muggers.

[garbon]

Heh, there was a ravine in Toronto which was a well-known and well-attended crusing spot. No-one cared much, because the guys in there never bothered anyone. When my friend and I were in our stoner phase we'd meet up in there at night to smoke pot, and even though she's a small woman, we never worried about them - it was fun to sit on the hill while stoned and watch them following each other about and up into the woods by moonlight - 'looks like that one got one! No, he's back again, must've struck out ...'   

Seems you should have been more worried about yourself...

Meh, I never had any trouble.  People looking to cruse are harmless. I was more worried the would attract bashers or muggers.

Actually the latter has been known to happen among the former.