Monday, Jun. 22, 2009 
By Janet Blackmon Morgan
jblackmon@thesunnews.com
An area nudist resort is flinging open its gates and welcoming everyone to be part of a world record for the largest simultaneous skinny dip.
Whispering Pines resort near Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., is ready for the clothed to come in and undress for the dip on July 11.
The American Association for Nude Recreation is coordinating the event across the country at legally sanctioned nude beaches and resorts. The Guinness World Records Association is adding a category for the largest simultaneous skinny dip so any number of participants will set the record.
“It’s cold in here. I’m starting to go numb,” Gloria Waryas laughs asshe bobs in the 84-degree pool at Whispering Pines near Ocean Isle Beach on Friday, June 19, 2009. The nudist resort is hoping to welcome hundreds of nudists and non-nudists on July 11 to set a world record for skinny dipping. The American Association for Nude Recreation is coordinating the dip across the country at legally-sanctioned nude beaches and resports. The Guinness World Records Association is adding a category for the largest simultaneous skinny dip. Photo by Janet Blackmon Morgan / jblackmon@thesunnews.com
The dip begins at 3 p.m., but Gloria Waryas, the resort’s secretary and liaison to the American Association for Nude Recreation, said the resort will open to the public at 2 p.m. so people can get into the pool and pond to be ready for the 3 p.m. start time.
The modest can get in the water wearing their bathing suits, kneel down to undress, then hold the suits over their heads to qualify as authentic skinny dippers without ever exposing themselves.
Everyone must be in their birthday suits to be counted for the official Guinness record, but “They just have to hold up a suit to show they are nude,” Waryas said. “At one time or other in people’s lives, most people have skinny dipped. We’re just saying come on out and skinny dip for the world record.”
Waryas has been a nudist for decades and a board member of the association representing the eastern district, which runs from Nova Scotia to Louisiana.
The resort has been operating since the mid-1970s off a dead-end dirt road west of U.S. 17 in Brunswick County. The scheduled dip marks the first time the resort will roll out the welcome mat for an event like this. The 33-acre resort has its pool and pond, plus a horseshoe pit, volleyball court, and a clubhouse for billiards and relaxing.
It even offers nude counseling when needed.
On Friday, Waryas sat at her desk flipping through brochures when Darrell Holder bounded into the small office with only a towel slung over his left shoulder.
He’d never visited a nudist resort until checking in a few hours earlier, even though he’d been living the natural lifestyle for years behind a tall fence surrounding his backyard at his home in Brevard, N.C.
Friday, he managed to drop his inhibitions and shorts to join a handful of others at the resort.
“When I first got here, I didn’t know what to think,” he said. “But it’s only been a few hours and here I am, naked.”
Holder said he jiggled off the jitters by putting on a pair of swim trunks, wandering around the rented trailer grounds and watching others on their way to the pool. After a few minutes, he tossed the shorts back in the trailer and joined in.
“But I’ve always been like this. As soon as I get home from work, I start stripping. I think I’m allergic to clothes,” Holder said with a laugh. “I love it here. I feel comfortable, and I’m thinking of buying a place here. It just feels right. It feels like home.”
But his girlfriend wasn’t as comfortable. Immediately after checking in at the office, she changed out of her summer clothes and into jeans, a sweatshirt and a pair of boots.
After Holder visited the pool, he went back to coax her outside. He found her in the trailer changed into her shorts and T-shirt.
“She’s back in the trailer and won’t come out,” he said, asking Waryas to drop by. “Maybe you can talk to her. Maybe you can have one of those woman talks, you know, make her feel better and more comfortable. I tried, but it might be different coming from a woman.”
Waryas hopped into her golf cart and headed for the trailer. She returned to the pool and a waiting Holder a little while later shaking her head.
“It’s harder for some women,” she said. “We sometimes have more issues than men. It’ll take time.”
While some people wanted to chime in on their decisions to go nude in front of others, they didn’t want to give their names.
“I’m not ashamed,” the first-timer Holder said as he struggled to jump on a plastic float in the pool, where a few men and women hung out.
“We always say, ‘nude where possible and clothed where practical,’” Waryas said. “Blue collar? White collar? It doesn’t matter because we don’t wear collars. It really is a great equalizer.”
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