Taking off your clothes in a bowling alley invites some questions about etiquette. Do you use the bathroom to undress? Will there be hangers available?
All becomes abundantly clear on a rainy Sunday afternoon in New Westminster when the Skinnydipper Recreation Club takes over the five-pin section of Lucky Strike Bowling Lanes. After some polite small talk, people simply begin to undress in front of each other, deliberately keeping their eyes down and folding their clothes neatly into piles before tidying them away into personal holdalls. Except for their socks. (One hard-core member goes barefoot.) This is bowling, after all, and shoes make life so much easier.
"It doesn't work very well in bare feet," says Paul Andreassen, president of the nudist club and organizer of the event. "I guess technically you would have to say we're not nude."
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The club has run a successful nude swim program since 2002, but recently, Mr. Andreassen explains, members have been clamouring for new events. Bowling was at the top of the list and made its debut in January.
Nude bowling may be new to Metro Vancouver, but it's already old hat south of the border. The Massachusetts-based Sunchasers club has held an annual tournament for almost 20 years, and Cleveland's Northcoast Naturists have met twice a month for nearly a decade to bowl naked.
It could happen here. A recent ad posted on Craigslist looking for people interested in nude bowling in Vancouver received 312 inquiries. The poster says he has yet to get organized, but that's good news for Mr. Andreassen, who is hoping the activity will become so popular he'll be able to rent out the 10-pin lanes as well. "People do have preferences in these things."
Still, there's something undeniably weird about a bowling alley filled with naked people. Think of nudists, and images of being outdoors, communing with nature, sunbathing and swimming come to mind. Yes, we know that some people take pleasure in vacuuming their own homes starkers, but bowling?
"There are all sorts of people that are practising social nude recreation," Mr. Andreassen explains. "Bowling is new for us and it's proving a great success."
Preparations are rudimentary: A bulletin board has been wheeled in front of the five-pin entrance, and black plastic garbage bags pinned to the emergency exit doors. Entrance is for members only and they are expected to follow club rules regarding no gawking or lewd behaviour. Genital piercings are banned. They sip iced tea and munch Oreo cookies, are jolly and supportive, and sit back down on their own towels when they've taken their shots. It's a bit like a church social, but with skin.
Men outnumber women by as many as 3 to 1. It took Mr. Andreassen eight years to persuade his wife to join him in his passion. She doesn't want to be interviewed as she works for Revenue Canada and thinks it might not go down well. Indeed, most of the group refuse to give their last names.
Among the women here today, only Vicki, 59, has been a nudist independent of the men in her life. A magazine editor, she became a naturist at 17.
"I think it's a little odd, too," she says of the bowling. "There are people more purist than me when it comes to social nudism. My husband comes to Wreck Beach, but he wasn't interested in this."
"Still," she laughs, "I'm sweating here and at least I'm not in my clothes."
Surprisingly, the club had little trouble finding a venue. When it first approached the owner of the bowling alley about a rental, she thought they were kidding, Lucky Strike employee Charmaine Smith says.
"When I told her I'd heard of the nude swims and the group was for real, she just shrugged and said, 'Oh. Okay,'" Ms. Smith laughs.
Ms. Smith volunteered to staff the session. "I think it's great - good for them."
Does she fancy joining in?
"Well, it was hot earlier," she laughs. "But no, I'm not tempted."