Boardmasters 2014

Boardmasters is a unique festival on the British festival calendar.  The north coast of Cornwall played host to 5 days of surf, skate and BMX competition as well as a lively music line up in an incredible location.

The surf competition kicked off on Wednesday where the Beach Session was headlined by Skindred down at the Fistral Beach site of the festival.  The site was open to all and drew in a fun crowd throughout the 5 days.  Organisers put on a host of interactive stalls to get the crowd involved in all aspects of the festival, including a FlowRider Wave Machine.  The Fistral Beach site was the hub of all the sporting action with a huge half pipe on site with impressive commentators whipping the crowd up into a hype. The skaters and riders clearly fed off it to give the crowd some great action.  The surfers had to battle with changing conditions but put on a great show whilst fighting it out for the prize money.  Jock Barnes took the Men’s Open title with Keshia Eyre crowned the Sungod Women’s Champ. Her brother Luis won the Big Air competition and Ben Skinner came back to Boardmasters to retain his Davidoff Cool Water Longboard title.

The music back at Watergate Bay went into full swing on Friday when the campsites opened and the majority of festival goers arrived in Cornwall.  The site is positioned above Watergate Bay with the Point and View stages offering amazing vistas of the waves rolling in behind each stage. The View hosted some more relaxed acts with The Point offering up a more energetic beats, Bodhi being a highlight on the Friday afternoon.  One of the larger crowds of the day was drawn to the Main Stage for MistaJam’s DJ set.  He got the crowd dancing euphorically to really kick the festival off.  This crowd then shifted straight into the Unleashed tent where the dancing got more and more energetic for Stanton Warriors.  Arguably the real gem of Friday was a set from the jungle legend that is Roni Size. This blissful crowd knew that they were witnessing a very special set. Palma Violets headlined a packed out Mavericks Stage to close out the day. Whilst being one of the hottest names in indie music, Palma Violets did not offer much of an original sound. However, their fervour gave the young crowd a good time to take back into the campsites.

As people started to poke their heads of their tents on Saturday morning there was really only one act that people were talking about.  That was Snoop Dogg.  But before the rap veteran arrived there was a full day’s line up including The Cribs and Zane Lowe.  Decade took to the stage in Mavericks to give the festival some much needed rock and delivered some timeless riffs. As the rain started to fall Scott Matthews played a beautiful set to a dedicated crowd. The crowd hid under giant wooden mushrooms to enjoy Scott Matthews wistful bluesy sound coming from the stage made from an American Airstream.

A huge crowd gathered in front of the Main Stage and waited expectantly.  The main attraction kept us all waiting for a good 30 minutes before sending the masses into ecstasy.  He played a set that spanned his career to delight the crowd and Snoop clearly loved the experience.  It was a strange site to see Snoop Dogg walking the stage of a surf/music festival in Newquay but he performed flawlessly and had the crowd buzzing from start to finish.

A word of mention needs to go the Keg & Pasty area of the festival.  There was never a dull moment in the Cornish pub onsite with comedy and party bands throughout the weekend, The Big Sets had folks swinging from the rafters.  

Sunday morning broke as campers woke to fierce winds.  As people were struggling to keep their tents pegged down rumours started to circulate that the final day’s events were being threaten by the weather.  At midday the announcement was made that the festival site had taken the brunt of the storm and was no longer safe, thus the final day at Watergate Bay was called off.  The events at Fistral Beach continued and the organisers put on a Silent Disco for those that stayed on Sunday night.

Boardmasters has grown into a huge event for Cornwall and is pulling more and more people down to the Westcountry for the festival each year. Despite the unfortunate weather this year it looks set to deliver a bigger and better festival year on year, so roll on 2015!