And suddenly, with a stamp on my hand applied by a surfer with coconut boobs, I have been ushered into Hawaii! It’s warm here, there are palm trees, tropical cocktails and tequila shots, and oh look! Outside there’s a surf-simulator. Surrounding me are sexy beach babes and topless men looking perilously bare under their grass skirts, and oh my goodness, I am now in water sports heaven!

This was my reaction when I first arrived at Slaves and Waves, the water sports social organised by Southampton University Water Polo club (SUWPC). Though it was a frosty night worthy of hot chocolate and PJs, over 550 people came along in their beachy finery to boogie on down to Baywatch and The Beach Boys.

A small group of us made the tour of the event, planning on experiencing every bit of this social, and our first stop, cocktails in hand, was the surf simulator. Here I thoroughly shamed myself, managing to stay on for a grand total of one second before falling off, not on to the nice squishy mat, but on to the surf board itself. Genius. Maybe I won’t go to Newquay next summer after all. Not everyone was as useless as me, and one champion won the prize for staying on the longest with a time of… Well let’s just say that the timer didn’t go on for as long as he did.

After a brief dancing sesh, shaking our bad selves to the classics pumping out to a very happy crowd, we ran outside to witness the main attraction of the night, the slave auction. Brave members of SUWPC, the swimming, sailing and canoeing clubs had volunteered to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Interestingly none of the slaves had specified what they would be willing to do, and for the water polo player who was more than happy to show his new (female) owners (plural) what they would be getting for their £50, this may have proved to have unforeseen consequences for the happy new threesome! We will never know however, as none of them were willing to comment…

Not all of the unfortunate slaves were willing to completely strip off, although the infamous red and white SUWPC speedos were prominent throughout the night, but each auction did raise between £2 and £62 for their respective clubs, making the event a great financial success for everyone involved.

Unsurprisingly, temperatures were rising in Sobar as most of the guests crammed themselves on to the dance floor, sweatily stripping down to the bare essentials, and to most of us the chill of outside became quite a pleasant occasional relief once midnight came. The heat and the mass of bodies just added to the brilliant atmosphere however, created by the SUWPC palm tree decorations and the inspired choice of tunes provided by the Sobar DJ.

Once the club closed and the crowds staggered home, members of the teams were left in the aftermath of the successful social. The decorations were removed, the floor was swept, a rogue and still unclaimed bikini top was put behind the bar, and then we all piled into Manzils, sleepy and a little worse for wear, but all in all incredibly happy with the success of Slaves and Waves. All that remains to say is, when’s the next one?