The Sydney Skinny is not about nudity. This is something the event's founder, Nigel Marsh, wants to make very clear to anyone considering registering for the February event, now in its fourth year.

"The Sydney Skinny is about five things," Marsh told The Huffington Post Australia. "I could talk for hours about each of them, but essentially they are joy, courage, acceptance, attitude, and charity.

"You'll notice one of the words I haven’t said is nudity. I know I’ve set up a nude event that isn’t about nudity, and so I understand how people immediately leap to the wrong conclusion, but it is the wrong conclusion.

"You are clothed on the land, then straight away covered by the water, and you get a sarong as soon as you get out.

"I've had people say to me, 'oh yes, my cousin does nude hiking,' and that is the exact opposite to what this is.

"There is an element of risk and obviously it’s different to every other swim because it’s a nude one but it really isn't about nudity."

Held at Cobbler’s Beach at Middle Head in NSW, attendance to the unique event has increased by 40 percent each year since it launched in 2013.

"Talk to anybody who has done it, you won’t find anyone who says anything other than ‘that was fantastic'," Marsh said. "Some people say it’s the highlight of their year. It's designed to be a different and fabulous day out -- something that doesn’t harm anybody and raises a bit of money for charity at the same time."

Marsh has long believed in the benefits of ocean swimming -- stemming back to when he turned 40 and decided to participate in the the Bondi to Bronte Ocean Swim.

"In my little life, that was like climbing Everest with no shoes and one arm," Marsh said. "But I used it as a tool to help in other areas of my life. I just thought, 'when I walk out of the beach at Bronte I will not smoke, I will not drink,' -- and I haven't for 12 years, for what it’s worth.

"It was an amazingly fun thing. I enjoyed training for it and I enjoyed participating in it."