Nothing says typical college girl vacation quite like a boat party. I don’t know what it is about them, but you can guarantee a turnout comparable to Chipotle’s infamous free burrito day which is always a gluttonous one for me. Yesterday, rather than stuffing my face with carbs, I chose to drink my weight in Sangria as I lived it up at Lost In Ibiza’s weekly sunset boat party.
Strolling to the docks at 6pm, I was excited to see the boarding line completely packed. As a single 20 something, the potential hopes of meeting someone outside of Tinder is always an occasion and what could be more perfect than being locked on a boat for 3 hours with a fully stocked bar. I feel like this has hopes for being the next great reality show idea. The passengers filing on to the boat seemed like they had made more use of the pre-party than I had, as a few of them hit the benches within moments of being on the boat, making use of all puns intended sea-esta.
As the boat started to plough forward, the Perfect Storm size of waves hitting the lower decks definitely woke everyone up as the drunk bunch on the lower end found this to be the most perfect time to take selfies. I'm not going to lie this was hilarious, imagine girls getting thrown around the front of the boat, drenched in water while whipping their hair back trying to take that perfect Kim Kardashian selfie. A crowd (including the DJs) began to hover over the edge watching this beautiful disaster unfold.
As the captain tried to navigate us through this mess, Charlie Banks started spinning in hopes to distract us all from the rather rough conditions. Playing a remix of Lily Allen’s House Be Good To Me did just the trick as everyone slowly latched on to each other and moved toward the dance floor. These dance moves were something else, imagine waving a bag of Nandos in front of a stumbling drunk person- a long strided shuffle with two arms up on either side.
Eight sangria’s later found me dancing solo on a chair while batting my eyelashes at Italian duo Flashmob who had taken over the decks. Their timing couldn’t have been better as the water finally settled and the boat was anchored around one of Ibiza's scenic caves - a perfect backdrop for a sunset. Deep house began to push off the boat, as the boys played a mix of vocal heavy tracks that had a relaxed rolling bass line and smooth crossover hooks. Warming up with a few of their own anthems (Need In Me and Brick House) the strong sense of underground beats made it clear why they would collaborate with legendary underground club DC-10 (through Jamie Jones' Paradise) for this party.
With two feet now on the ground, attention didn’t stray too far from me as my sangria soaked shorts wiggled their way into the middle of the dance floor to take part of my favourite Ibiza dance move - the dancefloor sitdown. Amplifying the beachy vibe, the strongly percussive track Kuar by Emmanuel Jal was remixed smoothly sending everyone clapping along to the beat including me and my new mate who get this, literally lives two streets away from me in my home town. Unfortunately no good romance ever started with, ‘we met in San Antonio’ leaving us just two star crossed lovers.
As the boat started to roll toward the shore, Flashmob knew just how to keep the vibe going by playing party favourites like last summer's anthem Look Right Through by Storm Queen (MK remix). The evening was wrapped after a round of Bacardi shots, I decided this would be a good moment to test my journalist skills by asking the 'Italian Stalion DJs' (yes, I actually called them that) for a sit down interview. Smirnoff ice in hand my fellow intern was there to record this magical moment as I asked them really pressing questions like, 'do you ever get sea sick' and 'do you like Ibiza.' A real package deal we are.
WORDS | Sara McNutt PHOTOGRAPHY | James Chapman
