Don’t get me wrong, I’ve travelled, but as I sat on the 5 hour train to Boardmasters festival in Cornwall through coves, beaches and long stretches of sea, a part of me felt like I was going abroad. Having never been a surfer, skating type, I wasn’t sure what to expect a festival where surf, sun, skate, sea and music unite. I had visions of stupidly cool girls with impressive tans, sun-bleach blonde hair in wetsuits and even more tanned boyfriends.
I mean, there couldn’t reaaaally be a festival sat on the horizon of a beautiful beach with tons of super cool surfers hanging out in the UK, could there? Wrong. There could. And while the words 'surfer girls' might make you feel a bit anxious (hot girls in bikinis, yup) , it was the least threatening festival ever.
I went with the guys over at Corona, who have been moving their Corona SunSet stage around all summer – they also had the best spot at Boardmasters this year. Kudos, guys.
Nestled in Newquay’s Watergate bay, Boardmasters is all about the sea. And obviously as it’s about the sea, it’s also about beach appropriate outfits. What on earth do you wear to a festival that’s half land, half beach?! Naturally I had to find my best pick of girls owning the ‘I woke up like this’ beach ready look for whatever the weather threw at them. Take note if surf, sand and music is your thing.
Spoiler: you may want to take up surfing after seeing these pictures.
Ali
'This is my third time here, you literally can’t beat the Cornish air at this time of year. I’ve been surfing since I was 14, me and my boyfriend went this morning before coming down. I cracked my head open once in California, it made me more wary but didn’t put me off. I decided to get my legs out and wear denim shorts even though it was raining this morning – the sun always shows up, and festivals are all about denim shorts.'
Michael
'I made my headband the other day, kids keep on coming up to me to ask where I got it from.' They cost £50 online but I made it for a tenner. It's my first time here, I'm loving it so far, it's so chilled and everyone's so friendly. The weather this morning was so crap, but look at that sea now, it’s definitely brightening my day up.'
Amy
'I just started surfing this year, I’ve spent the whole summer doing it. We’ve spent most of our time on Fistral beach (where the surf and skate competitions are) so I've been living in a wetsuit all weekend, and my bikini of course. This is my first time here but I if I came again I’d just come for the competitions, and to surf obviously.'
Emily and Hannah
'We’re volunteering for Oxfam so this is the first time we’ve been able to look properly around but it’s absolutely amazing. It’s so relaxing, and we can’t get enough of that view. We made sure we had jumpers in case the weather turned bad, but luckily we were able to wear dresses, and wellies of course.
Amy
'I’ve been coming to Boardmasters since I was 15, I live about 20 minutes away and with views like that [points to the sea] I mean, why not come? I’ve tried surfing but I wasn’t very good, so I prefer to watch it. It was raining this morning so I prepared for bad weather with tights. I normally come in something casual, it'll just end up getting ruined from the camping otherwise.'
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**Follow Alyss on Instagram @alyssbowen **
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.