Perfect your summer flirting skills

During the summer hols, the beach is a place where you could quite likely find the new love of your life. As long as your flirting skills are well honed!

The holidays are nearly here but maybe you’ll be spending them by yourself on your beach towel... So how about actually making the most of that summer atmosphere to meet some new people? The sea, the sun and soft sand are the perfect ingredients for romance, as long as you don’t drop any clangers.

So follow our advice on how to make yourself more attractive to catch your self some summer love.

Looking your summer best

The first point to understand is that at the beach, it’s difficult to cheat with your appearance or use subterfuge. Gentlemen, you can’t rely on your Italian suit to seduce the girls, and ladies, your favourite summer frock won’t be of much help to you either.

It’s therefore important to have prepared a little beforehand for your stay at the seaside, by exercising and perhaps going on a bit of a diet to ensure you are in good shape. Having said that, don’t bother honing your body; there aren’t many who go for the Baywatch swimming instructor look or the Eastern European champion look... apart from fans of dubious TV series.

Gentlemen, don’t forget that you still have a few square centimetres of material to help show off your assets. One piece of advice: keep it simple. Big bright floral patterns are out, as are really long swimming trunks which can easily make you look like an amateur. Swimming briefs on the other hand, as long as you’ve got a great body, will make you look more athletic... And bushy body hair is pretty well out of vogue, so if you’ve got a furry back, it may well be worth getting it seen to.

Ladies, if you want to look attractive, should you go topless on that French Riveria beach? It’s your decision, of course, but it’s always good to retain a bit of mystery, especially if your breasts are not your best asset... Finally, as far as accessories are concerned, sunglasses should be lifted from time to time: nothing beats straightforward eye-to-eye contact when you want to show someone you’re interested.

Flirting faux-pas to avoid at all costs

Whatever you do, don’t offer to rub sun cream onto anyone you meet. This is such an over-worked cliché, it’s guaranteed to lose you points, unless you say it in a really humorous way. But that requires a certain amount of skill, and you’ll have to carry on in the same humorous vein if you start off that way.

Of course, you could roll up with your bottle of sun cream and ask them to rub it on you, but there too, you’re taking a big risk of coming across as a slime ball. Of course, the opposite would work on any guy - more than thrilled to have a sun goddess rubbing his body. But then he would probably be expecting lots of other body contact to follow!

And please, please, please, don’t try the one with the volleyball or beach-ball that ‘inadvertently’ hits the person you’ve got the hots for: you will probably just annoy them and alienate them forever.

Above all, forget the horrible well-worn chat-up lines such as “Do you come to this beach often?”, “It’s hot, isn’t it?” and other really naff remarks.

Flirting your way into personal beach space

What usually happens at the beach is that everyone commandeers their own special spot. If you go straight up to someone for a chat, it could seem like you’re on the attack, so it’s vital to prepare the ground.

Begin by choosing a spot of your own that isn’t too far away from the person you’ve got your eye on, so that you’re able to look over in their direction from time to time... making eye-contact first. Then there are three things you could do.

You can wait for them to take the bait and then walk over to you (minimum risk but minimum chance of success);

You can find an excuse to get up and start talking to them (higher risk level and chances of success are strongly linked to how you go about it);

You can wait for them to jump into the water and then head off into the waves yourself, to ’accidentally’ meet them. It’s a lot easier to start talking then as you’re both on neutral territory.

So good luck on the beach this summer...

Louis Asana

Posted 06.06.2011

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See more in the dossier: Meeting Mr or Ms Right