Boardmasters Second Wave

Boardmasters Second Wave

The second wave of acts for Boardmasters 2022 is announced today, as Day Tickets for this summer’s festival go on sale this week. The Lathums, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Wombats, Self Esteem, Mimi Webb and 60+ more join the line-up for Cornwall’s own surf and music festival which will be headlined this year by George Ezra, Disclosure and Kings of Leon. Taking place from 10-14 August 2022 across two stunning sites on the Cornish coast, Boardmasters’ sought after Day Tickets go on pre-sale on Thursday 4 February, and general on sale Friday 5 February (Wednesday and Thursday Entry Camping, VIP Camping, and 3 Day No Camping tickets have all sold out in record time). Fans can sign up for the Boardmasters Day Tickets pre-sale at boardmasters.com - we’ll see you at the beach.

Bombay Bicycle Club are set to make a welcome return to Cornish shores. The London indie-rock four-piece released their acclaimed fifth studio album ‘Everything Else Has Gone Wrong’ in 2020, with the first single released from the album, Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You), hailed as a triumphant return to form for the band, marking the return of the band after a three-year hiatus. One of Britain’s very best live bands, Bombay Bicycle Club are sure to deliver an unmissable set at Boardmasters this summer.

The Wombats will be bringing all of the festival feels to Boardmasters 2022. The Liverpool trio have an arsenal of bangers from a career spanning 15 years, including Let’s Dance To Joy Division, If You Ever Leave I’m Coming With You, Greek Tragedy and Moving To New York. Scoring their first number 1 album just last month with ‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’, 2022 is looking like a huge year for The Wombats.

Wigan’s very own indie 4-piece, The Lathums join the Boardmasters line up for 2022. This follows a huge 2021 for the boys, whose debut album ‘How Beautiful Can Life Be’, released last November, immediately hit the top spot in the UK charts. They’re heading out on tour this year, including a stop off at Watergate Bay for Boardmasters.

Also joining the line-up for Boardmasters 2022, I Do This All The Time hitmaker, one of the most exciting experimental popstars of the moment, and BBC Introducing Artist of the Year 2021 - Self Esteem, along with neo-soul songstress Greentea Peng, the emerging London rapper behind Peng Black Girls - Enny, and 21-year-old popstar and nothing short of TikTok sensation Mimi Webb. Plus also for Boardmasters, there’s West London’s Kurupt FM - stars of People Just Do Nothing and Kurupt FM: Big In Japan, as well as Holy Goof who’ll be taking to the decks with hits including Down For You, and alt-rockersPalace whose new album ‘Shoals’ is due for release this year. JC Stewart will be heading to Boardmasters, too, along with singer-songwriter and So My Darling hitmaker Rachel Chinouriri. A man needing no introduction - Jax Jones - who comes armed with a catalogue of festival floor fillers joins the Boardmasters line up alongside, Franky Wah, 220 Kid, Mall Grab and Flava D presents 3 Flavas. Find the full line-up here.

With more acts set to be announced, Boardmasters 2022 will be an incredible 5 day celebration of music and surfing with the backdrop of the stunning Cornwall coastline. And this week, fans can purchase Day Tickets for this year’s Boardmasters, with pre-sale from 10am, Thursday 4 February, and remaining tickets on sale from 10am, Friday 5 February. Boardmasters encourages fans not to miss out, and to sign up for the pre-sale now at www.boardmasters.com. With demand at an all-time high, Wednesday and Thursday Entry Camping, VIP Camping and 3 Day No Camping tickets have all sold out in record time.

WSL (World Surf League) returns this year for the Boardmasters OPEN surf competition, taking place over five days at the stunning Fistral Beach. The biggest names in international, pro surfing will take to the waves to battle it out for the coveted Boardmasters top spots. Competitions include the Boardmasters OPEN (QS1000) mens and womens division and Boardmasters Longboard Pro (LQS1000) mens and womens division. In addition to the WSL QS and LQS events, the Boardmasters Junior OPEN boys and girls division will also take place at Fistral Beach.

Beyond the music, festival goers can sign up for Surf and Adventure packages to make the most of their time soaking up the best of what Cornwall has to offer. Surf packages cater for all abilities, with lessons available from Thursday - Sunday. Boardmasters works alongside established local surf schools and expert instructors including Fistral Beach Surf School, Escape Surf School, Westcountry Surf School and Blue Surf School to provide these lessons and get attendees in the water. Surf packages are priced at £35 pp for 2 hours.

Plus, adventure packages are available to book too, including coasteering, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding and snorkel SUP safari, perfect for anyone who loves the great outdoors. Leading local activity providers Newquay Activity Centre and Bare Feet Coasteer partner with Boardmasters to put these packages on. Priced at £50 pp, activities range from 2-3 hours total.

Following Boardmasters 2021, NME wrote that Boardmasters 2021 “oozes togetherness and inspires a genuine camaraderie amongst the legions of music fans who walk in as strangers, but leave as friends”. Earmilk described it as “ the UK's blissful beach haven for music”, and Vocal Girls Club enjoyed “arguably the best weekend of 2021”. Cornwall Live added it was “the perfect salvation” following a tough few years for young people. Check out the Boardmasters 2021 photo gallery here.

Day Tickets for Boardmasters 2022 go on sale via pre-sale at 10am, Thursday 4 February and remaining Day Tickets go on sale from 10am, Friday 5 February. Visit boardmasters.com for more information, and to sign up for the pre-sale.

70s Single

70s Single

Photography aficionado, shaper and wave slider James Parry rebirths a 70s classic single that was originally shaped by Kevin Cross. Throwing a modern template into the mix, from shaping to sea, follow the birth of this cosmic craft.

Coachella Valley Wavegarden

Coachella Valley Wavegarden

Plans to build a Wavegarden Cove wave park in California´s Coachella Valley received unanimous approval from the City of Palm Desert.

This project is the first of many new Wavegardens planned for the Americas, consolidating Wavegarden´s leadership in the surf park sector. Promoters Desert Wave Ventures and Beach Street Development are behind this innovative surf resort featuring North America’s first Wavegarden Cove, a 4 Diamond hotel, villas with views of the waves, restaurants, and beach club.

DSRT Surf is slated to be the first Wavegarden Cove surf park built in the United States of America after plans were unanimously approved by the City of Palm Desert in the Coachella Valley. Wavegarden´s technology will comprise a 52-module wave generator and a fully integrated surfing lagoon.

DSRT Surf is implementing a unique “turf for surf” program to offset all surf lagoon water use by converting 20 acres of turf on the adjacent golf courses to drought tolerant landscaping. The surf program will use the same amount of water as the golf course area being removed, making it a “net zero” water consumption operation.

On top of world-class waves, the resort will also feature a 92 room hotel, 83 residential villas with water views, a beach club and spa, together with pickleball courts, a pump track, restaurants and bars.

According to the development plans, construction on the surfing lagoon will soon commence and completion is scheduled for the end of 2023.

Kelly Slater Pipeline Reality

Kelly Slater Pipeline Reality

How would you judge the line-up, respect the locals and the pecking order on one of the most challenging waves in the world? Even the most experienced surfers can struggle, super heavy waves, a hectic crowd and a helluva lot to think about, click into the pits from the link. No banging tunes, radical narrators or killer graphics, just Pipeline firing.

Surf Icon Joyce Hoffman Honoured

Surf Icon Joyce Hoffman Honoured

Dana Point added its first female surf industry icon to its Watermen’s Plaza on January 27 when the city celebrated the addition of a life-size bronze statue of Joyce Hoffman. The statue is also believed to be the only life size statue in the nation to honour a female surfer.

As Hoffman shared at the unveiling ceremony, “I honed my surfing skills in front of the family home on Beach Road at the southern end of Dana Point and here at Doheny. I rode for Hobie Surfboards, which is located just up Coast Highway from here. I am definitely a product of Dana Point.” She continued, “While this statue is of me, I like to think of it as an honour to all the women surfers who came before and after me. All the trailblazers who didn't accept the concept that surfing was a man's sport, that women were expected to stay on the beach while the guys had all the fun. These were women who wanted to challenge themselves and the assumption that they did not belong in the surf.”

Hoffman’s statue joins those of Bruce Brown, Hobie Alter, John Severson, and Phil Edwards, who are all memorialised at Watermen’s Plaza, honouring prominent watermen and women in Dana Point’s history who influenced the surf industry at a local, national and global level.

From 1963 to 1971, Hoffman dominated women’s surfing competitions across the globe. In addition to her United States Surfing Championships in 1965, 1966 and 1967, she won the Makaha International in 1964 and 1966 and the Laguna Masters in 1965 and 1967.

“Joyce’s career epitomises the surf culture here in Dana Point. She was sponsored by Hobie Surfboards, and it was her friend Hobie Alter who approved a signature surfboard for Joyce, then directed Terry Martin to shape the first prototypes. Gordon Clark of Clark Foam, the biggest foam manufacturer in the world, lived near her parents on Beach Road. She knew Bruce Brown and watched Phil Edwards surf. It wasn’t just the waves that shaped her career but the community of Dana Point that played a role as well,” noted Dana Point Mayor Joe Muller in his opening remarks. “She is more than an icon, she is an everyday inspiration – and one of the best ambassadors for the surf industry and for the city of Dana Point,” he added.

Hoffman’s success also led to recognition outside the sport as a Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year at the age of 18 as well as being featured in magazines such as Life, Sports Illustrated and even Seventeen. She was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach and British carmaker Triumph even put her in ads in the ‘60s standing next to its convertibles.

“My timing was fortunate in that my career coincided with one of the biggest waves to ever hit surfing, the sixties… Our coast became a confluence of surf theme music with adventures, the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, surf theme movies, The Beach Blanket Bingo series, Gidget and The Endless Summer … I just happened upon that wave and rode it beyond Surfer and Surfing magazine into the mainstream,” Hoffman shared. “And I am so fortunate at this stage of my life that my wave is still in motion. It's just getting a little smaller and a little slower as I get closer to shore.”

The statue was modelled after a widely-recognised photo of Hoffman. As she states, “Phil Edwards was one of my idols, and David Nuuhiwa. They were both very aggressive surfers. David is famous for riding the nose so I tried to model my surfing after a combination of those two. Seeing me standing on the nose of the surfboard is applicable to what my surfing was like.”

Watermen’s Plaza is located along Pacific Coast Highway just past the 5 freeway, at the intersection of Del Obispo Street. The statues in the plaza are created by artist Bill Limebrook (above), who grew up on Beach Road in Dana Point. During that time, he became friends with many of the surf industry icons that he is now memorialising in bronze.