The Surrey Skinnydippers鈥� once-a-month Saturday night nude swim 鈥� for members only and open to children who are accompanied by their parents 鈥� is once again making waves in the community.

鈥淎s a child advocate, I want to make you aware that these children may be victims of voyeurism at the least,鈥� a person identifying as Rachel, at littlelam67@yahoo.com, wrote to the Now-Leader. 鈥淎s a taxpayer, please be aware this is a grave concern for many taxpaying citizens that subsidize your facilities for PUBLIC use. Please reconsider.鈥�

The nude-only swims are held at Newton Wave Pool, at 13730 72 Ave., from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month. Adults are $12 ($10 online) and children under 18, admitted only when accompanied by their parent or legal guardian, get in free. According to the club, membership is mandatory.

Surrey resident Zachary Johnson told the Now-Leader he learned about the nude swims on Twitter.

鈥淚 thought that鈥檚 weird. I clicked on the link and it showed there鈥檚 going to be kids there as well. I thought well this is pretty inappropriate,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 really have a problem with it if there weren鈥檛 underage people involved. If it was only for adults, then it wouldn鈥檛 really be an issue.鈥�

Paul Andreassen, organizer the Skindippers鈥� swims, said children have 鈥渁lways been there, and they are safe as they are at any other event where their parents are present.鈥� He said parents 鈥渁bsolutely鈥� have to be with the children.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a closed event, it鈥檚 a private event. The windows are covered.鈥�

Andreassen said that 鈥渦sually around 40鈥� people come to the nude swims but 鈥渘ot at lot鈥� of kids go.

He said the club began its swims in June 2002 until January 2003, 鈥渨hich is when Surrey decided to pull the plug, under McCallum and the then council. So we did appeal to council; they were not moved, so we moved our swim to Vancouver for a period of time while we organized and decided how to turn things around. Ultimately we wound up taking it to the B.C. Supreme Court.鈥�

Justice Paul Williamson presided over the case, Skinnydipper Services Inc. v. City of Surrey and Laurie Cavan, heard in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver in 2007.

鈥淔or those who came of age in the 1960s, skinnydipping would hardly seem to be a threat to the moral fibre of western civilization,鈥� Williamson wrote in his . 鈥淣ot so, however, for some of the good burghers of Surrey.鈥�

Williamson had noted that the city cancelled the group鈥檚 rental permits soon after many in the community expressed their outrage to city employees of the day, threatening to boycott the pool.

鈥淣ot long after, on March 31, 2003, the Federation of Canadian Naturists, the group who had been renting the pool for late night private skinnydipping, received a letter from the City of Surrey stating that the Surrey Council had considered the matter at a closed council meeting, in itself rather odd in a democracy, and had affirmed the action of the staff in cancelling the pool rental agreement.鈥�

The judge decided that 鈥渢he decisions to cancel the nudist group鈥檚 permits and to decline to rent pool facilities to the petitioner are patently unreasonable.鈥�

Andreassen says the club requires membership to attend the swims. 鈥淲e screen everyone, we take photo ID, we keep records on everyone that attends our event.鈥�

None are anonymous, he said.

The city staff who do the life-guarding are not working in the buff, Andreassen noted.

鈥淭hey are the same that lifeguard the public swims. Think about it, they are there for our safety and they have to be identifiable 鈥� they can鈥檛 just blend in to the crowd. Same thing at a public swim, they are wearing their official issued T-shirts and carrying their whistles and all that sort of thing. They are representing the City and everything is kept under control.鈥�

Laurie Cavan, Surrey鈥檚 general manager of parks, recreation and culture, told the Now-Leader via email that the event is a 鈥減rivate function鈥� and that the pool is rented to the organization after regular public swimming hours are finished for the day.

鈥淭he City of Surrey is complying with the court ruling that found it reasonable for civic pool facilities to be rented out privately for this purpose,鈥� Cavan鈥檚 statement read.

tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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