Thanks for the posts all. I do believe the old bastion of 'club' naturism is dying.
I have never been to a landed club, I don't belong to an organization.
This is something organizations like AANR don't understand. We are a generation that do not subscribe. No matter what they offer, we don't buy into forced commitment. This is a major reason why we go to beaches and not resorts. The beach doesn't ask us to sign anything.
I don't want to derail this topic as this was originally about YNA vs Vita Nuda so I was going to start a separate thread, and maybe I should, but in light of some reason comments I'm just going to say it here. I don't feel there is much of a difference between a nudist resort/club and a clothing optional beach.
Do I feel some clubs are overly restrictive with their single male policies? Absolutely! Still, I've met plenty of young people at the clubs and resorts I've been to and I always have a great time. I also feel like everyone is beating on AANR really hard. Yes, AANR often does seem to serve the clubs more than anything else, and I do think that they sometimes lose track of the bigger picture overall, but they are still a huge organization with a lot of clout and have helped move naturism along. I most certainly wouldn't have found naturism if it wasn't for AANR and the clubs that go along with that. They're just another facet of the nudist/naturist lifestyle.
On top of that, I think it is unfair to automatically lump Vita Nuda in with AANR's philosophies the way you guys are. Yes, Vita Nuda is associated with AANR, but they're not one organization, rather they are two symbiotic organizations. Vita Nuda is getting an extreme amount of support from AANR because AANR recognizes that they do need young people to grow the organization. Plus, I've been to a lot of Vita Nuda events and not once do I feel like I was forced into any kind of commitment or subscribed to anything. We were all just having fun. You really can't "join" Vita Nuda because it's not a membership driven organization. To join Vita Nuda, you'd have to be an organizer, not just a member.
Back to my original point, I don't believe there is much of a difference between a nudist resort and a clothing optional beach. They are both two different places to go nude and you get out of it what you want. Yes, the atmosphere can be different from one to the other but a lot of the times, the result is the same. I feel a lot closer to nature when visiting either one of these venues, but it does depend on what happens when I go.
There are times (particularly weekends) when I go to Cypress Cove and they've got the DJ there and it's one big boring party. Once I leave that atmosphere and enter into the more natural parts of the club (like the area around the lake), I start to feel closer to nature and really enjoy being there. I really felt this way when I went to Sunsport Gardens as well. It's a beautiful club that is VERY true to naturist values, they don't discriminate against single males, and it's pretty much a camp ground with beautiful nature trails and you really feel close to nature as well.
The big difference to me is that, at the beaches, I feel really lonely. People won't interact with others at all because everyone's paranoid of other people being pervs, especially single males. So, even though there isn't any systemic discrimination against single males, that discrimination still exists and it often feels worst at the beach. This is why I don't fully blame the clubs for having the policies that they do. It makes the people inside feel safer and more comfortable, so they're more likely to engage strangers since they know that they've been vetted.
I honestly think that both halfs equal the whole and the more places we have to go nude the better. I wouldn't pick one over the other and I wouldn't want ANY of them to go away, because then that limits my options. AANR may not be perfect, but they are helping. Even if they're only helping the clubs, that's more options than we would have otherwise.