News | Carve Surfing Magazine | The latest news in surfing

BOARDMASTERS ANNOUNCES 2018 HEADLINERS

Boardmasters has today revealed its second wave of acts set to perform in 2018, including Main Stage headliners Catfish and the Bottlemen and George Ezra. At Watergate Bay’s sunrise this morning, Boardmasters unveiled 29 epic acts who will join previously announced headliners The Chemical Brothers for Cornwall’s own surf and music festival, taking place this year from Wednesday 8 – Sunday 12 August. With everything from alt-rock, grime, house, electropop, singer-songwriters and much more, Boardmasters is set to return bigger and better than ever to the stunning Cornish coastline for another huge year of surf and music. Tickets are on sale NOW via the website.

Indie rockers Catfish and the Bottlemen are a musical tour de force. The platinum-selling Welsh quartet, fronted by energetic lead vocalist Van McCann, have been hailed by NME as “one of the best live bands in the game”, and as they take to the Boardmasters Main Stage on Friday 10 August on their return to Watergate Bay, festivalgoers can expect an electrifying set filled with early hits like ‘Cocoon’ and ‘Kathleen’, as well as cuts from their number one sophomore album ‘The Ride’.

Since bursting on to the scene with his multi-platinum debut album ‘Wanted on Voyage’ in 2014, George Ezra has continually stunned audiences with his distinctively soulful voice and jubilant live shows. The multi-platinum singer-songwriter behind chilled-out hits ‘Budapest’, ‘Blame It On Me’, ‘Don’t Matter Now’, and recent anthemic release ‘Paradise’, will close the Main Stage with his warm vocals as the sun sets on Watergate Bay on Sunday 12 August.

In 2016, after a six-year hiatus, grime veteran Kano released his critically-lauded album ‘Made In The Manor’ and headlined Boardmasters Unleashed stage with one of the most talked about performances of the festival weekend. This year, with a UK festival exclusive, Kano will be returning to the sun-drenched coast with what’s sure to be another electrifying set featuring fan favourites ‘3 Wheel-ups’, ‘GarageSkankFREESTYLE’ and ‘P’s and Q’s’.

Electro-dance trio Years & Years conquered 2015 with their number one debut album ‘Communion’ which earned them four prestigious BRIT Award nominations, and now Olly Alexander, Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Türkmen are gearing up for their massive return. The ‘King’ and ‘Shine’ hitmakers, known for their exuberant performances, will bring a splash of colour to the weekend’s festivities.

With a number one album that has gone on to sell millions worldwide, soulful sensation Rag'n'Bone Man was the sound of the summer and Boardmasters is stoked to announce his return to this year’s festival. Rory Graham, better known as Rag’n’Bone Man, has had unprecedented success since releasing global smash ‘Human’ in 2016: follow-up singles ‘Skin’ and ‘Grace’ are instant classics and have made Graham one of the most-heard voices on the radio. He’s also bagged two BRIT Awards and is nominated in this year’s category for British Male Solo Artist.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, even more acts have been added to the fantastic Boardmasters bill today, including two of the biggest indie rock bands to emerge from Britain over the past few years: Friendly Fires, who have promised big things in 2018 after a five-year hiatus, and Everything Everything, who unleashed their fantastic fourth record to huge praise in summer 2017. On the verge of releasing her eagerly anticipated second album ‘Someone Out There’, Rae Morris will provide the feel-good vibes as she hits the stage to perform latest electropop bangers ‘Do It’ and ‘Atletico’.

Also announced are hotly tipped pop star and the UK’s go-to songwriter RAYE, indie alt-folk trio Wildwood Kin, the ‘rising voice of London's disaffected underclass’ Hak Baker, the UK's premier blues rock trio Wille & The Bandits, Australian surf pop duo Hockey Dad, rising UK R&B Singer Bobii Lewis and Kelli-Leigh, who is best known as the voice behind two number 1 UK singles: ‘I Got U’ by Duke Dumont and ‘I Wanna Feel’ by Second City.

Watergate Bay will also play host to an incredible line-up of superstar DJs from around the globe this summer. MK, responsible for hits like ‘Piece Of Me’ featuring Becky Hill and recent top ten crowd-puller ‘17’, will be spinning the best house, techno, hip hop and R&B tunes. Also announced is drum and bass and jungle music specialist Shy FX Soundsystem, and BBC Radio 1’s Danny Howard.

Claptone, Steve Lawler, Skream, Fred V & Grafix, Audio Bullys, Riton with Kah-Lo, Holy Goof, Or:La, Kideko and Cakeboy complete the latest batch of announced acts for a unique festival experience in the most epic setting the UK has to offer.

Inspired by the freedom, adventure and creativity of surfing and music, Boardmasters was born in 1981. Expect parties that run late into the night and a beautiful beach to recuperate on during the day. The 5-day event is situated across two stunning locations in Cornwall - the surfing mecca of the UK, Fistral Beach, where world class International Surf Competitions take place, and arguably the most stunning location in the country to watch live music, Watergate Bay. Last year the surf and music festival welcomed over 150,000 festival goers to sunny Cornwall. Book your tickets here now!

BOARDMASTERS 2018

Headliners
Catfish and the Bottlemen / The Chemical Brothers / George Ezra

Joined by
Kano / Rag ‘N’ Bone Man / Years & Years / MK / Annie Mac / Craig David Presents TS5 / Everything Everything / Friendly Fires / RAYE / Wildwood Kin / Fat Freddy’s Drop / The Horrors / Declan Mckenna / The Amazons / Shy FX Soundsystem / Claptone / Steve Lawler / Bicep DJ Set / Skream / Danny Howard / Denis Sulta / Rae Morris / Fred V & Grafix Live / Tom Walker / Audio Bullys / Hak Baker / Sam Fender / Riton w Kah-Lo / Wille & The Bandits / Holy Goof / Or:La / Kideko / Kelli-Leigh / HAAI / Hockey Dad / Bobii Lewis and Cakeboy

Plus many more acts still to be announced

Ticket Information:
Watergate Bay tickets on sale NOW
Boardmasters operates a tiered ticket system with price bands for tickets changing over time. Book tickets now to guarantee the best price!
All tickets on sale now (Charger ticket includes bus pass, parking, VIP camping, Beach Session gigs, After Parties, Boardmasters t-shirt and tote bag)

Click here for tickets and info for 2018’s Boardmasters festival of music and surfing in Cornwall

Pierre Agnes CEO of Quiksilver lost at sea

Update
French authorities have suspended the search launched yesterday morning around 2:30 pm today Wednesday 31.

Thoughts are with the family, friends and those who worked closely with Pierre over many years at Quiksilver HQ and as team riders.

“At 14:35, after consultation with the director of the CROSS Etel, the maritime prefect of the Atlantic decided to suspend research at sea by directed means” was announced in a statement.

>>>>>>>>

Pierre Agnes CEO of Quiksilver has been declared lost at sea and huge search has been launched. The 54-year old waterman headed from Capbreton harbour in his boat at around 7:30 am (0630 GMT) as he would have done many times but the boat washed up later at Hossegor.

Pierre had radioed in to the harbour master to say he was postponing his return due to bad fog. But at 9.30am his empty boat was found washed up on the beach at La Graviere. A full search and rescue operation is ongoing.

Agnes, a great surfer and fisherman, knows the area and waves really well and would have done the trip thousands of times so everyone is somewhat stunned. He has been with Quiksilver 30 years. He became CEO in 2015.

Surf photographer Tim Nunn witnessed the scene as the surf was pumping:

“Literally just got out of water, everyone at La Graviere was looking for him in between sets. Five helicopters in the air, six boats, four jetskis, a boat washed up on the beach, so heavy ….”

The search is continuing through the night

Let’s hope he’s found safe soon.

How scary would this be….

Two kids had a close brush with two magnificent Orcas at Enclosure Bay in NZ yesterday.

Video by Shane Watt the killer whales head straight for them and hen swim either side.

Mr Watt said
“The kids were obviously very, very frightened. We were terrified just watching. It took us a minute to calm down afterwards so I can’t imagine what the adrenaline would’ve been like for them.”

O… M… G……

Surfing England shine at World Longboard champs

A 5th for Ben Howey, 7th for Ben Skinner, 9th for Emily Currie and a 25th for Jen Pendlebury helped Surfing England got a 5th place team finish in the World longboard champs.

Skindog went down fighting losing out on a repechage final place by .8 of a point in repechage round 7. Ben Howey was on a roll but went out in the repechage final.

British longboarding has now had four surfers repping on the WSL longboard tour, and four placing in the top ten in the world at the ISA games in the past year. Add to this the surfers placing in the Noosa Surf Fest and Duct Tape events and you can say British surfers among the global elite. If Wales had fielded a team (Elliot Dudley and Connor Griffiths ?) it would have been good bet that two more would have been in the field.

Hawaiian Kai Salas won the mens title, American Tory Gilkerson won the womens title. USA won the teams.

WSL webcasts only on Facebook?

With Facebook currently in the news insisting they’re returning the news feed to ‘family and friends’ not media and brands this seems a strange move from the WSL. But FB did push certain surf media titles a few years back to grow hugely so who knows what the long play is. Suffice to say if you want to watch the tour it’ll be via FB’s video services by the sounds of this ‘exclusive agreement’.

And aren’t all the kids long gone from FB? It’s all Snapchat, Insty and who knows what.

WSL Press Release:

World Surf League (WSL) and Facebook announced a historic partnership today that makes the social media platform the exclusive digital home for the top live events in surfing in 2018 and 2019. This includes all elite men’s and women’s Championship Tour events, the Qualifying Series 10,000 and Big Wave Tour events, as well as the World Junior Championships.

The deal builds upon the non-exclusive live rights agreement that Facebook and WSL struck last year, in which all men’s and women’s Championship Tour events, as well as Big Wave Tour events, were simulcast on Facebook and WSL’s website and mobile app. Aside from the significant reach on WSL channels, more than 13.9 million people watched a World Surf League event on Facebook in 2017 – and they came from countries all over the world. The top three countries in terms of unique viewers were in the U.S., Brazil and Mexico.

“Facebook fosters a global community and, as surfing is a sport that celebrates and centers around community, we are proud to announce our media rights partnership with the platform,” Sophie Goldschmidt, WSL CEO, said. “This is game-changing for the sport in many ways and, with current and new fans front of mind, we can retain the free offering to fans, and it allows us to deliver the world’s best surfing to even more people on Facebook’s platform.”

“We’re thrilled to become the exclusive home of the World Surf League’s live events for the next two years,” said Dan Reed, Facebook Head of Global Sports Partnerships. “This is a natural next step in our terrific partnership, which has steadily progressed over the years as the League has expertly used Facebook to distribute content and build community. This was especially true last year, when millions of fans came together on our platform to watch live surfing. We’re excited to help WSL continue to serve and grow this vibrant community and usher in a new era of surf broadcasting on Facebook Watch.”

The relationship has proved to be a model example of a flexible, innovative and collaborative relationship for both parties. All live events will be available globally on Facebook. Those in the U.S. will be able to tune in on Facebook Watch, a video platform where content, conversation and community come together. The partnership also calls for additional Facebook Watch programming, such as Surfing Sundays, which recaps each week’s top surfing action, with more programming planned in 2018 on this platform.

The shows are part of the World Surf League’s robust content offering. The League produces 800 hours of live content a year across multiple disciplines as well as a wide array of static storytelling and educational content covering the sport, history, heritage and culture of surfing, which will be available on WSL platforms alongside Facebook.

When recently analyzed in late 2017 by Sports Business Journal and third-party social measurement company Hookit, the WSL ranked in the top 3 sports leagues in the world in social engagement, alongside the NFL and NBA.

Live Events Overview

Crowning the undisputed men’s and women’s champions since 1976, the WSL’s elite Championship Tour takes the world’s best surfers to Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Mainland USA, France, Portugal and Hawaii in 2018, all of which will be broadcast live on Facebook.

Led by reigning two-time WSL Champions John John Florence (HAW) and Tyler Wright (AUS), the first event of the 2018 WSL Championship Tour will be the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Gold Coast in Australia from March 11 – 22, 2018.

2018 World Surf League (WSL) Men’s Championship Tour:
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, Australia – March 11 – 22, 2018
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, Australia – March 28 – April 8, 2018
Margaret River Pro, Australia – April 11 – 22, 2018
Oi Rio Pro, Brazil – May 10 – 19, 2018
Bali Pro, Indonesia – May 27 – June 9, 2018
Corona Open J-Bay, South Africa – July 2 – 13, 2018
Tahiti Pro Teahupo’o, Tahiti – August 10 – 21, 2018
Surf Ranch Lemoore, California/USA. September 5 – 9, 2018
Quiksilver Pro France, France – October 3 – 14, 2018
MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal, Portugal – October 16 – 27, 2018
Billabong Pipe Masters, Hawaii/USA – December 8 – 20, 2018

2018 World Surf League (WSL) Women’s Championship Tour:
Roxy Pro Gold Coast, Australia – March 11 – 22, 2018
Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach, Australia – March 28 – April 8, 2018
Margaret River Pro, Australia – April 11 – 22, 2018
Oi Rio Pro, Brazil – May 10 – 19, 2018
Bali Pro, Indonesia – May 27 – June 9, 2018
Corona Open J-Bay, South Africa – July 10 – 17, 2018
Vans US Open of Surfing, USA – July 30 – August 5, 2018
Surf Ranch Lemoore, California/USA. September 5 – 9, 2018
Roxy Pro France, France – October 3 – 14, 2018
Hawaii Women’s Pro, Hawaii/USA – November 25 – December 6, 2018

Supporting the live content of the elite tier will be the Qualifying Series 10,000 events, the WSL Junior Championships and the WSL Big Wave Tour (BWT), taking the world’s best men’s and women’s big wave surfers to Nazaré, Pe’ahi, Mavericks and Puerto Escondido – all events will also stream live on Facebook in 2018 and 2019.

For more information, check out WorldSurfLeague.com.