Boardmasters is upon us!
It’s that week of summer that chaos ensues in Newquay! Some of the best surfers from the world battle against each other, competing in the World Surf League’s qualifying event for the championship tour, and thousands of spectators descend on the world famous Fistral beach for Boardmasters. The cliffs above Watergate are taken over by happy campers, all-night ravers and some incredible music.
So here’s our top 6 Boardmasters’ nuggets of trivia to get you psyched for the comp and into the festival mood!
1. Boardmasters’ back catalogue of champions include massive names and all-time legends like Tom Curren and Mark “Occy” Occhilupo. Even Newquay’s very own Russ Winter, who did a month’s stint in one of our yellow rashes, has won it, hailed by Mason Ho recently as one of the icons that have dominated Teahupo’o.
2. Kelly Slater has surfed over at Fistral in the past but has never won, starting his Newquay career at the age of just 14. This year’s youngest competitor in the men’s division at Boardmasters this year is Bude’s Stan Norman at only 13, and he shreds!
3. Today sees the women’s shortboard event at Boardmasters kicking off, having been cancelled yesterday. Welsh number one Jo Dennison will be taking to the water, who went to uni with over half of the Kingsurf team, past and present. Good luck today Jo!
4. Our very own Little (but not so little) Tom remembers the first music event at Boardmasters, all the way back in 2005, when he was the wee age of 13. Headline acts featured Rooster, James Blunt and Razorlight. Remember them?…
6. Did you know so many of this year’s festival acts surf: A Blaze of Feather, Nathan Ball, Newton Faulkner, and of course Lee-Ann Curren. Maybe you’ll see a few more giving it a go in the water this weekend…
Cheers to Boardmasters & Jason Feast for the epic pic!