By Phil Jarratt
With borders open and travel getting back to an expensive new normal, the 2023 Noosa Festival of Surfing is set to be the biggest and most international event since 2019.
According to festival manager Josh Allen, more than half of the competitor registrations received since they opened at the start of the month have been from internationals.
In addition to our own World Surf League current longboard champion Harrison Roach, star international competitors who have confirmed for the March event include former world longboard champs Joel Tudor and Taylor Jensen as well as rising stars Kaniela Stewart, Kelis Keleopaa, Kai Takayama and Sophie Culhane.
At the world longboard titles at Malibu last month, Kelis and Sophie finished second and third behind Soleil Errico in the women’s division, while in the men’s Kaniela and Taylor finished second and third behind Harrison.
As the pro competitor confirmations continue to flood in, it seems likely that all of the highly-ranked longboarders will be in town.
The WSL will stage a $10,000 world tour regional qualifying event in Noosa, which will no doubt attract all of the serious Australian contenders, but the internationals will be eying off the logger pro, a winner-take-all noserider pro, retro and twin fin events and an as-yet unconfirmed big money high performance longboard event.
The nine-day festival, running 3-12 March, presented by GemLife Resorts, will also feature a beach bar on the sand with daily entertainment, plus a big schedule of off-beach music, film, art and surfing chat shows and shaping exhibitions.
Competitor entries are now available and filling fast for open, age and team divisions at noosafestivalofsurfing.com
Read more about Surf Fest 2023 in Life of Brine, page 47.
