Editorial: Naturists need new gimmick

I wasn't against the local naturists getting their kit off and having a day at the beach recently.

It was one day that the locals who didn't want to see those bits of strangers that they wouldn't usually see had to stay away from that patch of beach.

And it was just a patch of beach - a small part of our brilliant coastline that, for this one day, the naturists got to be naked on.

It was also well sign-posted so no unsuspecting kiddies with their buckets and spades would be confronted by things their parents didn't want them to see.

And back then it was kind of original - the club picked up about a dozen new members from the marketing exercise.

The naked group ride along the beach planned for next month, however, is completely different in my eyes.

Andrew Pointon - the man who is infamous for being taken away by the police when an unsuspecting member of the public saw him running naked through McLaren Falls Park - is organising this particular bike ride.

Rather than being confined to a patch of the beach, the nude riders will make their way from the Omanu Surf Club to Papamoa Domain.

There will be a lot of parents who will have to keep a lot of kids from playing on the beach which they have the right to play on on this day.

But as well as having the potential to offend a lot of people, the bike ride idea is just downright lame.

We've had the Boobs on Bikes parade, the naturists have had their beach day and they even recently stripped off and went for a night sea swim to celebrate the full moon.

It's time for Mr Pointon and anyone planning to take part in this bike ride to get a new gimmick.

Especially given the point of the bike ride is to protest against car emissions.

Do they not have anything else more clever up their sleeves than to jump on the attention-seeking naked bandwagon?

Like we saw with the breast versus bottle feeding debate, no one likes to have a message rammed down their throat.

And those who weren't shocked the first time nudies showed up on the beach are bound to be over the whole idea now that Mr Pointon is telling them they have to put up with it again.

Get a new one guys.