2020.02.12 Stuff
You can leave your hat on - just please not only on your head.
A Kāpiti Coast woman has called for better beach etiquette after a dog walk turned into an encounter with a sunbather wearing nothing but a beanie.
Her concerns, stirring debate on local social media, is part of a historic issue on the Coast, which over the years has occasionally seen families pushed cheek-and-jowl with naturists.
The district's bylaws seem to leave the question of offensiveness in the eyes of the beholder.
Stella Schouten said it was about 2pm on Tuesday when she took her dogs for a walk on the beach at Queen Elizabeth Park, Raumati South.
"There was a man coming toward me who was quite large, and he just had a towel around his waist, and something just told me - 'hmmm, I just wonder if he's naked under that towel'."
When she returned she came across the same man again, this time coming out of the water, then reclining on the beach under a driftwood structure.
"I'm going 'is he naked?'. He had a beanie over his head and he was peeking out, seeing whether I was looking, and I'm going 'surely he's got speedos on ... and oh my God he doesn't have anything on'."
The man could have used his beanie to "put it over his private parts while I walked past", she said.
Schouten said she was no prude, but questioned whether it was polite or good beach etiquette to act as the man had. She questioned whether parents would like their children to have to see it.
"I'm not offended by the human body, but this is a public beach ... there's a time and there's a place, there's your backyard, or go discretely in the sand dunes or just use your beanie to cover up when people walk past."
Schouten had lived on the Coast for 25 years and had only seen one other nude person on its beaches - he ran away immediately when he realised he wasn't alone. On Tuesday the man wouldn't even roll onto his stomach, she said.
Mayor K Gurunathan said with a review of the beach bylaw coming up, people could ask for nude areas, so visitors knew where they could expect nudity.
When it came to nudity on Kāpiti beaches he said "commonsense should prevail ... commonsense would tell you you've got to be discrete".
Environmental standards manager Jacquie Muir said the council's current beach bylaw stated no person could stay on the beach in such a state of undress "as to cause offence".
"As such, there are no bans on beach nudity, as long as the behaviour is not lewd or offensive. Behaviour regarded as lewd or offensive is dealt with by police."
She said no areas on Kāpiti beaches were "specifically designated for nudity but, as per the bylaw, discretion and consideration are a requirement".
Peka Peka, to the north of Waikanae, is treated by many as an unofficial nude beach area on the Kāpiti Coast.
