Over the past few years we have become hooked on sailing holidays, especially in a warmer Mediterranean climate. The combine many of the facets that we enjoy about holidays, ie, pure escapism, relaxing, warm weather, good company, and most important of all, the ability to be able to remove your clothes for the majority of the day when sailing!

When we first embarked in such holidays, it was with some intrepidation, as neither of us were experienced sailors. It was further complicated by the fact that we did not fancy sharing a boat with others, so it would mean just the two of us, sailing our own yacht. We were encouraged to try it by talking to someone who had been on a flotilla holiday . One of the good features about the company was that they graded the sailing area by level of difficulty. We were convinced to take the plunge, and booked a 27ft yacht for one week sailing around the Saronic Gulf, just south of Athens in Greece. The Saronic Gulf judged to be an 'easy' area, and the 27ft yacht (called Kirki) was the smallest yacht available and just right for two people. Our experience level was sufficiently low for Sunsail to recommend that we went on a weekend sailing course at one of their sailing centres.

The sailing course took place on a brand new 37ft yacht. During the course we learnt many invaluable bits of information, like what to do if someone falls overboard, how to navigate, how to flush the toilet, etc. Unfortunately, there was very little wind, so from a sailing point of view, it was not much good! We did get a light breeze for about an hour or so, and actually got the yacht to sail. This of course made the yacht heal over slightly, at which time we both looked at each other, and thought the same thought 'just how far will this thing lean over before it sinks', and 'which one of us should ask the skipper such a daft question'.

Then came the holiday, we were introduced to Kirki, and were given a detailed brief about how every aspect of how the yacht worked. The flotilla skipper gave us detailed information about the route to our first destination. The sky was blue with a light breeze blowing. However it felt like a gale to us, and we were a bit cautious about attempting to take Kirki out for a sail. We expressed our caution to the skipper, but he convinced us that there would not be any problems. He just told us to motor out into the centre of the big bay, and then put up the sails as instructed.

Gulp, so that's what we did. We arrived in the middle of the bay, decided which way we would try and sail just supposing that we got the sails up. Up went the main sail. There was lots of canvas flapping in the breeze. Not to be deterred, we raised the genoa (jib), which resulted in even more sail flapping in the breeze. At this stage, you just have to go for it! So we pointed Kirki to the right of the breeze and all of a sudden the sails filled, the flapping stopped, and we were sailing, - pure magic!

From that point on, we have not looked back.

September 1998 - Southern Ionian, Greece

The following year, boosted by our confidence, we were sailing with two good friends in the Southern Ionian Sea off the west coast of Greece. Again, the holiday was organised by Sunsail, who supplied us with a 32ft First 305 called Delos. Compared to Kirki, it was like a greyhound, and would 'take off' in the lightest of breezes. The weather was rather mixed with a selection of thunder storms, strong winds and catabatic gusts. Compared to the previous year, we did spend quite a bit of time 'hanging on' and trying to keep the Delos vaguely upright. Again, we learnt an awful lot, especially relating to 'reefing' and 'spilling wind'. Catabatic gusts are local winds caused by hot air rising up the steep sided mountains, which then becomes unstable and plummets downwards at a vast rate of knots. The result on the ground (or sea) is that the wind springs up from 3 knots to gale force in about 3 seconds. Fortunately you can see them coming as they whip up the sea surface, sometimes reducing visibility dramatically.

June 1999 - Northern Ionian, Greece

For our trip to the Northern Ionian, we decided to go on our own. We do enjoy the independence to just the two of us being together and being able to make our own decisions and being able to go where we want when we want. But it did mean going back to a smaller yacht, preferable in a sailing area where we had not been before.

There appears to be some sort of affinity between sailing and being naked. In the normal world you would rarely see a naked body unless you were on a nude beach or at a sun club. However, the moment you 'set foot' on water the situation changes and the sight of a nude body becomes a 'not uncommon' sight. I can't think of any other activity that releases the inhibitions to cause people to cast off their clothes. In retrospect, given the starting point of being somewhere generally hot and sunny, and spending the day in a swimming costume and doing a fair bit of swimming, then many of the seeds of being naked are already sown. But never the less the apparent ease at which people cast off their swimwear under such circumstances does surprise me.

Our flotilla trip around the Northern Ionian, was blessed with hot sunny weather, but we did have some windy weather that was sufficiently strong to keep us in port for a few days. When we were 'storm bound', our flotilla was not all moored together, but was dispersed around a small harbour among local fishing boats. We were moored next to one of our other flotilla boats, but other than that we were pinned in by deserted fishing boats. While I can just about survive being 'covered' during the early morning and in the evening, I found it a struggle to remain clothed during the day given the bright warm sunshine. So I decided to ask our flotilla neighbours if they objected to me sunning my self on the deck with no clothes on. They said that they had no objection, so I was able to spend the day in port topping up my all over tan.

As luck would have it, at the following overnight stop, we were able to moor next to the same couple, so I was able to remain nude for as long as I wanted. The following night we were also next to the same couple, but we were also next to a third boat. So the obvious thing to do was to also ask them if they objected to my nudity. Again, the answer was that they had no objection, so much to my delight, I was able to remain naked for as long as I wanted. The holiday progressed much along those lines, with me spending most of the time nude, except that is when we were not in a taverna!

June 2000 - Dalmatian Islands, Croatia

In June 2000 we embarked upon yet another two-week sailing holiday in Croatia. They have flotillas that sail around the Dalmatian Islands in the vicinity of Split and Duvbrovnic. The wind tends to be a little stronger than in Greece, but to make up for the slightly 'hairier' conditions, all the boats in the flotilla had 'in-mast' reefing as well as the standard genoa roller reefing system. For non-sailors, it means that you can get all the sails down without leaving the cockpit. When you only have two people on the boat, such a system makes life much more controllable, especially when the wind starts to blow stronger than you might chose! We finished up on a Gibsea 29 called Pelagruza, which suited us to the ground. The flotilla that we chose spent the two weeks sailing from Split to a marina just north of Dubrovnic. During the following two weeks it then sails north back to Split, so in either the northbound or southbound trips, you get to see a good variety of the island and Croatian life. Contrary to the general impression given in the UK press, Croatia, the Serbian / Croatian war finished some years ago, and even at its height, it never reached the Islands. The Dalmatian Island area is very unspoilt and not commercialised. Croatia offers lots of opportunities for naturism, apart from sailing. Croatia Naturally , which describes naturim in Croatia is an excellent webpage and well worth a read.

As with previous years, we were sailing with a group of about 12 other yachts. Based on my experience during the previous year where were not that bothered by my nudity, I gradually built on that experience to try any maximise my time spent nude, but not to shock or embarrass anybody unnecessarily. When sailing, nudity was standard. Initially, my normal 'dressed' attire in harbour was my pair of tiny Kiniki trunks. They hold all the dangle bits in, and are a bit 'cheeky'. They are decent - just, but do not leave too much to the imagination. Saying that, I flatly refuse to go swimming in trunks of any description, even when moored in harbour. The yacht had a bathing platform, so nude swimming was quite possible by slipping the trunks off just before diving into the water. It did mean getting out of the sea nude, but a towel was always nearby, so it was quite easy to save the embarrassment of others by putting the towel round me to dry off. My problem was once my trunks were off, I was very reluctant to put them back on! It was very pleasant sitting in the cockpit with just the towel around me. The screening around the cockpit was sufficient to let the towel slip to ensure that an 'all over tan' was maintained. This then progressed to going 'down below' to get a cold beer, starkers, and then returning to my towel to consume the beer. As the holiday progressed I became braver as it appeared that no one else on the flotilla objected to my nudity. I declared the cockpit as an 'acceptable' nude area, and became brave enough to wander around the cockpit without the hindrance of clothing. As always, I took care not to be too 'in your face' with my naked body when confronting occupants of the boats that might be moored next to us.

We had a great holiday, and even won the regatta for our class of boat. I was quite literally able to show them by backside as we sailed past the opposition. At the end of every flotilla holiday there is always a prize giving session for memorable events that happened during the holiday. We won three prizes, a bottle of wine for winning the regatta, a certificate for 'Public Display of Absolute Bad Taste in Swimwear', and the banana man award which consisted of a banana, inscribed 'Banana Man', I can't think why! The prizes were awarded by the New Zealand skipper, who commented that was very impressed with my 'fiddles', which it would appear is the New Zealand expression for the 'dangly bits'. From a sailing point of view, the most memorable event was the dismasting of one of the Gibsea 302s during the regatta. Every flotilla acquires a nick name, and and maybe it was no surprise when ours was called 'The Naked Motorboat Flotilla'.

June 2001 - Kornati Islands, Croatia

In 2001 we returned to Croatia and joined a flotilla which went north of Split to explore the Konati Islands. These are a very beautiful part of the Dalmatian Islands, so much so that the islands and the surrounding seabed have been declared a national park. Again we hired a Gibsea 29. They are ideal for two people and have been modified to give the added advantage of 'in mast furling'. This make taking all the sails down very easy, a job which can be a 'handful' especially if the wind is blowing.

Again, Croatia, in particular the islands, was stunning, the weather was great and we had 'good winds' throughout our two week holiday. The only real difference compared with previous years was that we were with a different crowd of people who made up the rest of our flotilla.

There was a slightly unusual mix of people on this year's holiday compared with previous years. Of the twelve boats, three were a group of close friends who were reluctant to mix with the rest of the crowd. Four of the boats where heavily into getting 'smashed' each night. One boat just sailed off and did its 'own thing'. This left one boat, which was full of delightful Germans who spoke good English, and the remaining three boats. All the last four boats were all quite content to have a great holiday, have a good sail, see the sights and enjoy the local atmosphere, but would preferred not to do it through an alcoholic haze. This is not a criticism of anybody, 'each to their own', and enjoy what you are doing. It did split the age group, with the 50+s comprising the last four boats. We were a bit like 'Cardigan Country' boats, you might only understand the expression if you who listen to Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2! (For those of you not familiar with this expression, Cardigans are worn by boring sad old gits, but said with an Irish sense of humour).

From the point of view of a nudist on a 'textile' holiday, it was very much a case of picking up from where I left off last year. In port, the cockpit was declared a nudist zone, which was made possible by strategically hanging towels over the side rails of the yacht. Once out of port, then again, nudity was the norm and made no pretence at 'covering up' at all. One great thing about Croatia is that it is full of nudists! Chances are that if you see another boat, then the crew will be naked. Similarly, anchored in bays etc, a good half of the people on the boats will be naked. With so many other nude bodies around, you do not even think about the fact that the sight of my nude body might shock others.

It probably comes as not surprise that we were in the felt more at home with the last group of four boats. We would quite often finish up mooring up next to each other, and would be quite happy sharing a table in the many restaurants that we visited. They soon realised that I did not often wear any clothes and it did not seem to cause them any embarrassment at all.

On one evening, the plan was for the flotilla to 'raft up' in the middle of a deserted bay on one of the Kornati Islands, eat on board and then have a 'party'. Three of the Cardigan Boats immediately looked for alternatives! One went to a marina, and another boat and ourselves found a delightful bay a mile or so further along the coast, where we just dropped anchor and spent the night 'swinging' on the anchor. A magnificent sunset was followed by a 'very' windy night. Even though we were at anchor, the boat was tossed about enough to tip over an empty bottle of wine!, but that is another story! The following morning, we were still in the bay roughly where we dropped anchor, the wind had dropped, the sun was shining and the seagulls were waiting for their breakfast. Due to lack of sleep, nobody was in a hurry to go anywhere.

The second 'Cardigan Boat' in the bay was about 40 yards from us, and before long they were swimming. They had obviously taken a leaf out of my book as they were skinny-dipping. I could not resist the temptation, so I swam over to join them. By the time I got to their boat they were out of the water drying themselves off. I was invited aboard and offered a drink. All three of us finished up sitting nude on deck enjoying the sun. I obviously thanked them for the drink, and before long the conversation got round to my 'all over tan'. It did not come as a surprise when I told them that I was a nudist! Before long, by chance, the third 'Cardigan Boat' arrived in the bay from the marina. In no time at all they had dropped anchor close to us and were also skinny-dipping. I never quite worked out whether I was the catalyst for all the nudity, or whether it would have happened anyway.

Eventually, we all had to depart for the next evenings rendezvous with the rest of the flotilla, which was another bay about five miles away. It was called Opat Bay, it had two small outdoor tavernas, a quay, some mooring buoys, and that is about it! It was absolutely delightful! The taverna sold barbecued fish or barbecued fish! So after a very nice barbecued fish meal, we staggered back to out boat. We were just about to have a 'nude night-cap' glass of malt whisky on deck, when the 'third cardigan boat' (who we were moored next to) invited us across to join them for a 'wee dram'. My response was that that we would be delighted, but could I come as I was. No problem, was the response, so we joined them on their boat clutching our bottle of malt. We had a couple of glasses of whisky and talked about the stars, the bay earlier in the day, skinny-dipping, and my nudity. It was all very relaxed and pleasant.

The walk up to the top of the local hill had been recommended as the view was superb. The following morning we had a delayed start as the Bora was blowing rather strong, so it was an ideal opportunity to explore the view. Some 50 yards away from the boat, my shorts were off, and the rest of the return walk was done nude. Although we walk reasonably fast, two young ladies, who seemed totally unbothered that I was nude, overtook us. The view from the top was worth the effort. On the way down we met one of the German crew on his way up to the top. We chatted for a few minutes and then carried on. That evening the flotilla was back on the mainland, and by chance I was sitting in a bar next to the German. He was quite happy to start a conversation by saying "So you are a nudist?" (you will have to imagine the German accent). We were both quite relaxed to discuss the subject at length. You could not imagine an English person starting a conversation in such a way, but his frankness was refreshing.

The following evening we were back on the islands. It was to be another 'party' in a large bay. So again the 'second Cardigan boat' and ourselves party-pooped and found an alternative mooring. It turned out to be a different corner of the same bay, but near a very small taverna. A large old fort dominated the bay. We attached ourselves too two mooring buoys, and rowed across to the taverna in our inflatable dingys. It has to be one of the most basic tavernas that I have ever been eaten at. The menu was fish or pork, plus plenty of chips, salad and wine. It may have been basic, but it was very tasty.

The following morning after we had deflated our dingy, the crew from the other boat rowed past saying that they were going to explore the fort, and would we care to join them. We could not resist the opportunity, so we jumped into their dingy, with me just clutching my shorts and camera. As we tied up near the taverna, I did put my shorts on so as not to frighten the locals. This lasted until we were out of sight of the taverna, when the shorts were off again. The four of us then walked to the fort on the hill, and nobody was at all bothered that I was nude. When we got to the top we took loads of photos, and to my surprise, as group photo was requested and to my delight I was not requested to put my shorts on! The photograph of all four of us was taken using an automatic timer on the camera.

All in all it was a most enjoyable holiday doing all the things that I enjoy doing in lovely weather and magnificent scenery. It will be difficult to beat!!

July 2002 - Southern Ionian, Greece

In the summer of 2002 we returned to Greece for two weeks sailing around the Southern Ionian. The flotilla consisted of the lead boat with 12 yachts in the flotilla all about 30ft long. Our yacht was called Epidamnos. Its no real surprise, but the pattern of the holiday was very similar to previous years. One of the nice aspects of the Southern Ionian is that the sailing distances are not that large, and there was no rush to get to the destination port each day. This meant that the days were quite relaxed. A daily routine son emerged, with a 9.30am the group briefing, which was inevitably followed by bacon and eggs and orange juice for breakfast. After a bit of sight-seeing and a few photos, it was back to the boat for the business of the day.

Start the engine, cast off the ropes, hoist up the anchor and we were away. Once out of the harbour, any remnants of clothing were removed, and on with the sun-tan cream. Once we were a safe distance from the harbour, the sails would be raised and the engine stopped. Although its great to turn the engine off, it does power the fridge, which in turn keeps the beers cold, so you have to be sensible about how long you run the engine for!

Once sailing we would inevitably be completely on our own and out of sight of any of the other yachts. .Navigation was based on 'boy scout principles' using the yacht's chart and a compass. This enabled us to point vaguely towards our destination (wind direction permitting). On most days we would be near our destination by about 3pm, so the task was then to find a 'nice little bay' to drop anchor and have a late lunch and a swim. Chances are that one or two other boats in the flotilla would have had the same idea, so it was not uncommon to meet up in some of theses bays. Needless to say, it soon became apparent to the other boats that Epidamnos did not were any clothes. There were no comments at the time, but it was always likely to generate the occasional comment in the taverna the following evening, for example 'I did not recognise you with any clothes on!', to which the reply was ' any why not!' - it was all very good light hearted banter.

Due to the relative close proximity of the islands there is always the chance for some 'free sailing', which means just going off and 'doing your own thing'. Near the middle of the holiday we had two days 'free so we were able to leave the flotilla and go and explore some of the smaller islands on our own. As it turned out, two other boats had the same literary as us, so the three of us set sail in the same direction.

Kastos was the destination for the first day. It was a bit of a 'white knuckle ride', with a big swell and strong wind blowing us along from behind. After about 4 hours we arrived just about in one piece to find a delightful town, with a small harbour just big enough for a dozen or so yachts. Out two companions arrived before us, so they were able to help us tie up etc. We spent a while on the quay, with the 6 of us swapping white knuckle stories while supping cold beers. Unfortunately, arrival in port meant that I had to cover up, but only with the minimum, ie, my yellow Kinikis, which are wearing rather lace thin. Although they cover my penis and a small amount of my bum, they are so thin that they leave very little to the imagination, showing every vein and fold of skin. They do not so much as cover, but just colour the' bits' yellow Again, nobody appeared to object as the crowd of us stood chatting and enjoying our beers. It was not long before even that minimal amount of cover in such hot sunny weather was starting to make me feel 'uncomfortable', so I asked the girls on the other two boats if they would object if I discreetly sat in the cockpit of Epidamnos with no clothes on alt all. There was absolutely no objection, so that was the 'green light' for nude sunbathing in port. Even so, I tried to keep it discreet as there were other people around, but this was fairly easily achieved by the strategic positioning of towels on the guard rail wires.

The following day the six of us moved on to Palermos, the highlight of which was the recommended 'New Mill' restaurant. There was no menu; the owner just asked how long we wanted to stay, so that she could 'pace' the arrival of the courses. Before the first course, a 6 litre bottle of wine arrived, which we managed to consume with ease. I lost count of the number of courses that were served up, but that evening we ate some of the best food that we have ever tried in Greece.

That set the pattern for the rest of the holiday, nude at sea, and mostly nude in port! After rejoining the rest of the flotilla, the group destinations still consisted of some delightful bays and small ports where the water was crystal clear and swimming from the back of the boat was possible. Needless to say, there was no way that I was going swimming in a costume, so I would just throw myself over the side 'as nature intended'. There would inevitably be others swimming around so it was a good opportunity to cool off and have a chat. It appeared that they were unaware that I was starkers, until that is, I emerged from the water back onto the boat, when there would again be the odd light hearted comment to the effect that 'Peter is skinny dipping again'.

At Spartahori, we had a group meal which was washed down with the usual beer and wine. As the evening wore on, conversation moved round to the subject of Epidamnos's nude sailing. No one around the table objected in the slightest. Two other couples admitted that they also sailed nude on occasions, but were clearly more discreet about it than Epidamnos. The flotilla 'engineer' who was a young New Zealander thought that it sounded a great idea, but asked the question bout what do you do when you see an attractive woman and your 'old man' pops up. The light hearted answer was that she would probably take it as a compliment! However chances are that it would not pop up, and if it did, it probably not last for long.

The general conversation went on along the lines that when sailing, people tend not to wear much clothing, so what difference does the removal of a small swimming costume make especially if nobody else is around? Linda (who was one of the Kastos 6), could not cope with that view. She was firmly of the opinion that most bodies were unattractive and should therefore be kept covered. Her age was 'on the right side of 50', she was not thin, but certainly not fat. She always wore a one piece swimming costume and did not sound too happy with her body. I mentioned that we had seen a lot of Linda in her 'cossie', and that by removing that layer of lycra, it would be unlikely to reveal anything that we did not already know, especially as all nude bodies are basically similar. The reply was 'No! No! No!, I could not inflict such a sight on humanity!'.

Her views on the nude male body were even more interesting. Again, she was of the opinion that due to their size, most male bodies were best kept covered. Her husband was quite thin, so I'm not sure how he fitted into the equation. It was pointed out that male swimming costumes were generally not very large, and did not hide anything that she did not already know about. She admitted that she could comfortably cope with a man in a 'cossie' and could talk to them as if they were fully clothed. But a nude man would be completely different. The focus of her attention would be entirely on one thing, and it would not be his face. It was pointed out that if they were nude in her company for long enough, then she would get used to the situation, but she very much suspected that even with time, her attention would not waver from the man's crutch area. The obvious question was then asked as to how she coped with the sight of my nudity, and that according to her definition, shouldn't I remain 'covered'. Her reply was 'Oh no, you're different, you're body is OK. I did not have the nerve to ask whether when she spoke to the 'nude' me, whether she spoke to my face or my penis!

Linda was clearly happy enough with her lifestyle and opinions, and good for her, at least she said what she thought and its always interesting to get the views of 'textiles' on the subject of nudity and nudism.

At the group meal on the last evening of the holiday there is traditionally an award ceremony relating to events and happenings that have occurred over the previous two weeks. We did not win the star prize, which went to the boat that had a 'prop wrap', which seriously bent the prop shaft and other bits. However, not surprisingly, Epidamnos did win the 'Naked Sailing' award, much to the delight and amusement of the rest of the flotilla. The award consisted of a plastic 'g' string as shown in the photo, but it was far too small to cover bits that it was intended to cover. And just before you ask, no I did not try it on in front of the rest of the flotilla!

During the conversation that followed, the 'skipper' told us a story that he had heard about one of the Jaguar 27 flotillas on a previous year. It appears that on one flotilla, some of the yachts were hired by a group of nudists. This did not cause any undue problems, but as the holiday progressed, the became so relaxed about their nudity that they were arriving in port, still nude, again that's not necessarily a big deal, but when attempting to help moor the boat 'bows to', he did draw the line at being thrown the mooring lines by a large nude lady. On subsequent occasions, when giving instructions over the VHF radio on how to moor and what lines and fenders to have ready, he also added, 'and put some clothes on!' I don't think that he was too bothered about it, but he did have to consider the Greek locals!

Once again, a flotilla sailing holiday produced two weeks of relaxed naked escapism, together with lots of memorable moments and delightful social company.

July 2003 - Northern Ionian, Greece

Our main summer holiday in 2003 took on the same form as previous years, ie, flotilla sailing somewhere hot! We decided on the Northern Ionian again. That's the bit around Corfu on the western side of Greece. The sailing area includes the islands of Corfu, Paxos and Anti-Paxos, plus the adjacent Greek mainland. Parts of Corfu are busy, but they are easy to avoid, and otherwise the area is very unspoilt with good sailing, pretty bays and unspoilt harbours.

A school of dolphins swam past just north of Corfu Town

Needless to say, the format of the holiday as far as I was concerned, was to turn the 'textile' holiday into as much as a 'nudist' holiday as reasonably possible! As in previous years, once out of harbour, then nudity is no problem, so the only issue is how to maximise the 'nude time' when in harbour.

The water in many of the harbours was clean enough for swimming. Our flotilla invariably moored 'bows to', which meant that that there was no problem swimming from the bathing platform on the back of the boat, the only problem was could I get away with swimming without a cossie.

In previous years, when necessary, I have worn my very old and very thin Kinik cossie, but they are starting to look their age, with little elasticity and they are starting to develop the odd hole! So reluctantly they have been pensioned off and replaced by a pair of red 'micro bathers', which just about cover all the essential bits eg, my penis and parts of my bum. There are times when even I admit that it is appropriate to cover up, for example, when arriving or departing from harbour. However, as far as I was concerned, wearing trunks while swimming was not an option! So it was just a case of seeing how others in the flotilla reacted to my skinny dipping.

Invariably, arrival at a port required lots of activity, with much rope pulling and knot tying etc. This would be done in my red cossie. It would then be time for a quick beer and a swim, so I would go to the back of the boat, slip out of my cossie, followed by a loud splash! Other than the splash, nothing attracted anybodies attention. After the swim I would sit on the back of the boat or the bathing platform to 'dry off' in the sun unhindered by a wet cossie. For trips to the fridge to top up my beer, I just put a towel around myself, and then went back to more sunning and drying off at the back of the boat.

Not wishing to attract attention to my self, generally I would just sit there soaking up the sun's rays and the beer. On one occasion fairly early on in the holiday, we were moored next to one the other flotilla yachts. It was crewed by a husband and wife, the wife being very 'chatty'. She went on and on talking about everything under the sun. Initially it was my wife who was involved in the conversation from our side, but as it progressed, I found myself being drawn in to the conversation. Sitting where I was, the conversation was effectively going on behind me, but as I became more involved, I found myself gradually turning so that I could make my contribution.

I'm sure that it must have been obvious to them that I was sitting at the back of the boat with no clothes on, but as I got drawn into the conversation my total lack of clothing was there for all to see. Although, I was enjoying the conversation, it was going on a bit and I was half hoping that the sight of my penis might have cut the conversation short. But not at all, my nudity had no effect on the conversation at all!

I was surprised that my new red mini cossie did not attract any comments. I started off thinking that they might cause the odd comment, so tended to only wear them on the boat, but as time went by I became bolder and increasingly wore them on the quay side. On arrival in port on the last day, showers were available at a tavern several hundred yards walk away. Once we had arrived had moored up and after a few beers, we decide that it was time for a shower. The weather was stinking hot, I was covered in sun-tan cream, so it seemed crazy to wear anything other than my red cossie on our trip to the shower. So clad in just my cossie and a towel over my shoulders, we walked over to the taverna and the shower. I've no idea what the locals thought, but I did not detect any gasps of horror!

To sum up, it was a most enjoyable holiday. I gained the usual all over tan, we met some nice people, had some good sailing, ate some good food and drunk some good wine.

During our days sailing, the lead boat came close enough to be aware that both of us were sailing 'as nature intended', so when it came to the awards ceremony on the last evening, it came as no surprise when were both awarded the Adam and Eve prize complete with fig leaves attached to an impromptu 'g' string. The lead crew did say that they wanted to see us wearing them, but I decided to spare the blushes of the taverna owner, and kept the fashion parade for the following morning.

I was chatting with the flotilla engineer about our nude exploits and asked him just how frequent nude sailing was on these holidays. To his knowledge, we were the first this year, but then it was fairly early in the season.

July 2004 - Central Dalmation Islands, Croatia

June 2004 and we returned to the central part of Croatia. Needless to say I did my best to turn a textile holiday into a nudist holiday. We had a 32 foot yacht. There were 12 other identical boats in the flotilla, with a lead boat just to make sure that we all knew where we were going.

One of the great things about a sailing holiday is that you virtually live outdoors for the whole 2 weeks, from drinking your first cup of tea on deck in the morning, to the last 'night cap' glass of whisky at night under the stars. The most I wore was during the evening meal when it was tee shirt, short shorts, and flip flops. On the boat in port I wore just my skimpy adjustable cossie. Once sailing then it was as nature intended!

	An early morning cup of tea
	We are heading for one of those islands!

Although the boats do not necessarily sail that close to each other, our paths did cross when tacking, or when anchored in bays for lunch. So it was not long before it became common knowledge that our boat was a naturist. One of my rules on these holidays is not to get my swimming cossie wet, so that all swimming became 'natural'. Lunch time dips in our own private bays was no problem as I could just throw myself off the back of the yacht. Many of the harbours we stopped at were clean enough to swim in, so skinny dipping became a frequent occurrence.

	Skinny dipping off the back of the boat
	Self steer mechanism

A group of us from five boats became good friends and we would take it in turn to supply evening aperitifs. On about the fourth evening I invited everybody onto our boat, and joking said that it would of course be 'clothes optional'. There were jokes about turning up wearing their best thongs. In the event, everybody turned up in shorts and tee shirts (as normal). Maggie was not too happy about me serving drinks in my birthday suit, so although I served a few as nature intended, I got dressed to keep Maggie happy.

A few days later the same five boats were moored side to side on to a buoy in a pretty bay on an island called Mljet. Aperitifs were going to be boat next door. I was sitting on our deck (nude) with a beer. Maggie was having a shower, when the others started to arrive on the boat next door. 'Peter, aren't you going to join us' was the call, followed by 'it is clothes optional'. That was all the invite that I needed, so I jumped onto their boat, naked, except for the beer that I was clutching.

I was plied with more beer and wine, and everybody took my nude body in their stride. After a while Maggie joined us, and she was also very relaxed about it. The conversation could not escape the fact that I was naked, and ranged from comments like 'I wish that I had the nerve and courage to go nude' to a comment from a fifteen year old teenager from one of the boats to the effect that 'she could not conceive the idea of being naked in public'. I mentioned that she was wearing a sight low cut tee shirt, showing lots of cleavage, she was also pointing he belly button at me, and that the shorts really did not leave much to the imagination. Also everybody had seen her in her lycra swim suit, so everybody would have every good idea of what she looked like nude, so what was all her concern about? I suspect that her views will moderate when she grows up and gets a boy friend! After the aperitifs, we were ferried over to a small taverna in a rubber dingy. Just before the dingy arrived, one of the crowd did say 'Peter, I do hope that you are going to put some clothes before we go to the taverna!

Dressed and ready for the taverna in the distance

Other than in the evenings when I wore a tee shirt and shorts, when I was not nude, I lived in my skimpy cossie. I had fun in the cossie, as you could play games with it in an attempt at maintain maximum exposure. When prating around on deck with ropes etc, the curtain effect on the cossie would inevitably increase the degree of skimpiness, as the back would ride up the cheeks of my bum. When sitting on deck and not nude, the front of the cossie can be manipulated so that my penis and balls get dragged between my legs, so as not to interrupt the all over tan. After the first few days I plucked up courage to attend morning briefings wearing only my mini cossie, but they were worn in 'modest' mode. I've no idea what everybody else made of it all, but I had no complaints, and I really enjoyed myself!

One novel story occurred one evening when I was on deck in my mini cossie tidying up some ropes, a Croatian woman who was walking past the boat asked in pigeon English, 'How ????'. I did not fully understand her, but she was clearly requesting some information about measurement. From her hand gestures, I thought that she wanted to know deep the water was, so I replied "about 2 metres". "No" she said, "How large". I realised that she was not talking about the depth, but a request about length. I had this sudden dilemma. I did not know whether she meant the length of the boat, or something else that was fairly prominent. The answer she wanted was either 32 feet or 6 inches, depending on what the object of her question really was. So I replied "32 feet". "I though so" she said. She went away happy, but the recollection made for a good laugh at that evenings aperitifs.

Rounding up dolphins. Guess who the figurehead is!

On the final evening there is the usual prize giving party. As usual my prize revolved around my lack of attire, as I won the 'Golden Balls' prize. I'm not sure if the prize related to the actual colour of my balls, or the colour of my minimal cossie!

Croatia 2005

In June 2005 we did what on the face of it was a repeat version of our 2004 holiday sailing around the Croatian islands near Split. Again, we were part of a flotilla and needless to say, I did my best to convert if from a textile holiday into a nudist holiday.

The fleet (our boat has the red 'addicks' flag)

The ground rules were the same as previous years:

I would not intentionally upset anybody with my nudity, and when necessary I would cover the essential bits. Saying that, the cover would only be minimal;
Unless absolutely necessary, I would only swim nude;
Once out of port, nudity would be the norm;
Even in port I would try and be nude as much as possible.

When sailing the only problem is to ensure that you have enough sun tan cream on. In port a nude, or near nude lifestyle is however possible.

The main form of cover up were my tan coloured mini cossie with adjustable front and back. With the adjustment in the fully covered position they are almost respectable, but movement around the boat does cause them to 'ride up' so it is quite easy to let them settle into virtually what ever position you want, so you can control just how much bum or pubic area you expose to the sun.

The yachts have a reasonably deep cockpit, and by hanging bath towels on the protective wires around the edge of the boat, it is possible to create an area in the cockpit that is sufficiently secluded from any neighbouring boats. This means that you are screened from people sitting in the cockpit of boats moored alongside and it is possible to work on the all over tan. Invariably we always moored 'bows to', which means the pointy bit of the boat faces the quay, so that you have a degree of privacy from people walking along the quay.

The flotilla skipper defines the destination point each day, but it is up to you how you get there (navigate), and which bays you stop in for lunch. When sailing you might occasionally sail close to other boats in the flotilla, but generally you are on your own. However, after a few days, most other flotilla members become aware that our boat was 'naturist'.

One of the other flotilla boats had a windsurfer as an optional extra. The couple on the boat were very friendly and I mentioned that I had done some windsurfing many years ago and actually had passed the basic RYA windsurfing qualification.

On about our fourth day out we finished up in a lovely bay on a virtually deserted island, which had one restaurant, which we happened to be moored next to! Swimming from the back of the boats was very much the obvious thing to do, so my mini cossie was off in a flash and I threw myself into the water. I spent a while chatting with others in the water and on other boats. I've no idea if they knew if I was nude of not. I did not make an issue of it but just behaved normally.

While swimming around, I got chatting to the folks from the boat with the wind surfer. As the conversation developed, they asked if I wanted a go on the windsurfer. My immediate reaction was "yes please". However, as I was naked and getting up on the windsurfer would have meant exposing everything to the assembled flotilla. So my dilemma was threefold:

Say no;
Say yes, but go back to our boat to get my cossie; or
Say yes, and jump up on the board.
There was no way that I was going to say no, and it just seemed wrong to put my cossie on. So I did a bit of a compromise, said 'yes' but towed the board a semi respectable distance away from the other boats. Even so, it was going to be totally obvious that I was nude, but was giving the others half a chance to 'look away'.

At about 30 yards away from the boats I decided that was quite far enough and started my attempt to surf. Fortunately the breeze was gentile and after a few false starts, managed to get on the board with the sail up and underway. It was great. The concentration required to get the thing up and moving, made me totally forget about the situation and the audience. It was only after a minute of so of sailing, when I could start to relax a little, that I could start to appreciate that I was nude windsurfing, in this beautiful bay, in full view of the rest of the flotilla.

I was not so coy about returning the windsurfer, and just sailed up to the back of the boat, dropped the sail and jumped into the water. My nude venture received no comment at the time, the others just continued swimming and chatting as normal. Subsequently I did here people joking that they 'did not recognise me with my clothes on', so I was obviously noticed, but with minimal reaction.

Time for a beer in the marina near Hvar

At the end of each days sailing the flotilla hostess would visit each boat to give details about our new destination. They take privacy very importantly, and generally ask permission before jumping onto a boat. That gave me a chance to slip my cossie on before she arrived. On one occasion, she was on the neighbouring boat, and rather than jump on the boat from the quayside via the bows, she just skipped over the side wires onto our boat. I was laying face down tanning my bum as she arrived. It did not cause me a problem as I just sat up and threw a towel over my dangly bits.

She was in no rush and was happy to chat for ages about anything relevant. Nudity and nudism was a topic that we chatted about. She came from New Zealand, where historically attitudes are more Victorian than in UK and Europe, but she said that her and her husband (the skipper) had skinny dipped together, so she was not embarrassed by the sight of a naked body. We mentioned that nudism was very popular in Croatia and mentioned some of the nude swimming beaches / areas that we had sailed past, but she had been oblivious to them, but would keep a better look out in future!

A particularly nice feature on this year's holiday was that the lead boat took photos of all the boats while we were sailing along. One morning, we were sailing along as the lead boat motored past. The hostess was busy with the camera! Initially I sat down, but then thought better of it and stood up and waved to the camera. "Great!" she shouted, "I'll make sure you get a copy of that one".

During the middle weekend of our holiday we did have some stormy weather and were storm bound for two days in a place called Vela Luka on the island of Korcula. This did give us the opportunity to explore some of the local islands. There was a ferry that took people to the 'Magic Island', so we could not resist it. It was about 30 mins ride away and was actually one of the islands that we sailed past on our way to Vela Lika with a very distinctive light house. We had no idea what was on the island, but on arrival there was a restaurant (selling beers) and a map showing about 5 beaches. One of the beaches was signed FKK, so it was an easy decision as to which beach to go to!

After 14 splendid days sailing and virtually living nude as we progressed around the islands, we all arrived at out final destination harbour. To make cleaning and maintaining the boats easier, this was the only occasion that the boats were moored 'stern to'. This meant that all the cockpits were facing the quay, so there was no privacy from promenaders on the quayside. From previous years this was fully anticipated. As the boat needed a thorough clean we would be busy with the bucket and brush so there would be little time for sitting in the sun.

Once we were moored the hostess came up to us and said that she had received a complaint about my nudity from one of the other flotilla members. My first immediate reaction was to inquire why it had been left to the last day to say anything. I did not go out of my way to offend anybody and if I had known who it was then I would have taken care not to upset them. Anyway, the request was now irrelevant as the 'stern to' mooring did not allow any privacy. The hostess had asked the person who complained to speak to me personally, but they did not want to, and requested that the hostess spoke on their behalf! The whole conversation left me totally confused. Why leave it so long to mention it, and if you feel so strong about it, why not mention it to me direct?

At our farewell evening meal, we were sitting next to the lead crew. After a few beers and glasses of wine, I could not resist asking the question 'who was it who objected'? The hostess refused to tell me! The skipper backed her up but thought that the situation was ridiculous as we were all adults and he could not see that any harm had been done.