Arriving at the Star City Casino wharf on Saturday morning I was greeted by the respective Sorted Sundayze and Depth Charge crews, both busy getting the last minute preparations organised and everyone aboard the party boat. I was immediately ushered onto the stunning Vagabond Spirit, a three-level carpeted cruiser with air conditioning, plush couches and friendly and helpful bar and security staff. This hard dance party collaboration was ready to set sail.

The first level was closed off to us partygoers so we had Sorted Sundayze on the second deck and Depth Charge positioned on the open air top deck, a nice touch and a pleasant change from the norm. Depth Charge encouraged revelers to dress up in camouflage/combat gear, a simplistic yet effective theme that adds a bit of extra fun and silliness to the day. Always a good thing in my book and the majority of those aboard had donned themed attire.

The weather was superb – bright and sunny with a few clouds punctuating the clear blue sky. Looking around at my comrades, some donning army-green face paint, I could only hope that everyone had ‘slip slop slapped’ that morning as I envisaged some interesting tan marks, no doubt inevitable by the close of the party.

Krazy Joe took his spot behind the decks prior to us setting sail and he cranked things up with one of my all time favourites, Music is Moving by Cortina, which was closely followed by various other top hits including I Don’t Care by Tony de Vit. We experienced a few sound problems however it was all hands on deck (‘scuse the pun) to fix things up and soon we were pumping again.

G.M. was next up and he adjusted the tunes to a lighter hard trance style packed with lots of melodies and vocals. Following up was Carlson who played a series of driving hard house tracks and he added a bit of bounce to the atmosphere. Saying that, bouncing is probably not the word for it – swaying would be more apt. The skipper took us way out of the harbour towards the Heads and due to the choppiness, dancing on the top deck proved to be hard work for light feet.

I dropped down to the Sundayze deck for a while and found a smattering of people listening to the DJ churn out hard style and hard dance at a much faster BPM. On the Sundayze menu they had various upcoming DJs, closely followed by the likes of Yoshi, a top class spin-ster who generally mixes a refreshing blend of hard dance beats.

I returned to the Depth Charge deck for a cheeky wiggle to Seismic who was mixing up a hard, fast storm and wearing his trademark bunny ears. The atmosphere was fun and frolicsome and there were many revelers enjoying the tunes and the sunshine. I disembarked around 3.30pm as I had to be elsewhere, however a friend reported that the boat continued for an extra half hour over scheduled time so the hard dancers were sure to receive their fill.

I had a good day out and I listened to some quality UK hard house and trance throughout the day, however it was a little disappointing that the boat was down on numbers. For much of the boat party I spend my time on the Depth Charge level as I’m an avid fan of UK Hard House and Hard Trance, and I knew that my hard dance penchant would definitely be indulged by the Depth Charge DJs: which it certainly was. Overall I’d give my thumbs up for some but regrettably not all of the party components.