Boardmasters Festival

Boardmasters Festival

GenreRock, Indie rock, Alternative rock, Dance
DatesSecond weekend of August
FrequencyAnnually
Location(s)Newquay, Cornwall, England
Coordinates50°26′20″N 5°2′32″W / 50.43889°N 5.04222°W / 50.43889; -5.04222
Years active1981–present
Most recent9–13 August 2023
Next event7 – 11 August 2024
ParticipantsSee lineups
Attendance53,000 (2023)
Websiteboardmasters.com Edit this at Wikidata

Boardmasters Festival is an annual event held in Cornwall, United Kingdom, usually spanning five days on the second weekend of August. The event is a combination of live music and surfing/skateboarding competitions in and around the town of Newquay. The festival was founded in 1981 as a surfing competition,[1] and in 2005 it was expanded to include music acts, taking place at Watergate Bay. In 2024 the official capacity of the event was increased to 58,000.[2][3][4]

The majority of the music performances take place to the north of Newquay near Watergate Bay. The Men's Pro 5 Star WQS surf competition takes place on Fistral Beach where a skate ramp is built for the BMX and Skateboard competitions. Other sporting events include The Women's Open, WSL Men's Longboard, WSL Women's Longboard, Boys/Girls Pro Junior and Under 12's.[5][6][7] It is also known to feature a well-being program, a tea-room, and a fairground.[8]

The event is owned and managed by Vision Nine Group. In 2017 the Boardmasters Foundation was started to support local causes, such as the RNLI, with c. £436,000 raised up to 2023.[5]

  1. ^ "Snoop Dogg announced as third Boardmasters Headliner for 2014". Newquay.co.uk. 11 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Surf's up: Boardmasters festival increases capacity". Music Week. 24 January 2017. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Boardmasters seeks to raise numbers". Newquay Voice. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  4. ^ Pilley, Max (15 February 2024). "Boardmasters gets permission to increase capacity by thousands". NME. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  5. ^ a b Bett, John (22 March 2024). "Boardmasters is the Cornish festival that started as a surf event but tried to get too big". Cornwall Live. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Delpero, Lemoigne, Odriozola, Hopkins Take Out 2023 Boardmasters Titles - World Surf League". World Surf League. 2023. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Epic surfing for the final day at Boardmasters". Carve. 2023. Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  8. ^ Lavin, Will (17 August 2021). "Boardmasters 2021 review: beach-side bonanza makes long-awaited return". NME. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2024.