Australia takes a lot of its identity from our famous beaches. We’re a sunburnt country with a board under our arm and some shrimp on the “barbie” for all our mates. Fittingly, we also host some of the best surfing competitions and festivals in the world, along with some of the best talent to ever paddle out into a bay. This means that every man and his dog tends to think they’re the best thing on a board since sliced bread, (which in itself, toast on a board, is pretty impressive) so here’s your chance to prove it. The annual Noosa Festival of Surfing is returning, and this year it’s bigger than ever. Registration to compete has already opened, so hop online and sign up, or come along between February 22nd until the 1st of March to experience this incredible waterlogged event.

For those who live with their heads in the sand, or maybe are just new to the region, the Noosa Festival of Surfing is THE local surfing festival to be a part of, with countless greats making their earliest competitive appearances here over the years. The festival itself started back in 1992, when the Noosa Malibu Club (est.1986) made the decision to start a long-board competition that would celebrate Noosa’s perfect point break waves, and to unite the growing local community of traditionalist style surfers. It wasn’t until 1994, when club member Jamie Pradella filmed the thrills and spills of the event, and chopped it up to create the ‘surfy’ cult classic ‘Malibu Heaven’ that the event started to make some serious traction into the competitive scene. In 1996 they introduced their first ‘Pro’ divisions and immediately began to attracted the best the global surfing scene had to offer. The event grew to involve all walks of ‘surfy’ life from short-boarders, to paddle-boarders and even tandem events. The rest is history.

There are four major divisions of competition, each with many more divisions within, way too many to list here, but the event is split up into Men’s Amateur Divisions, Women’s Amateur Division, Speciality, Pro & Team Divisions, and the dedicated SUP (Stand Up Paddle boarding) divisions. There really is a division for everyone, but get in quick, as places are filling FAST. As for the spectators amongst you, there’s plenty to do between heats; from live music and entertainment, to a plethora of fantastic food along the esplanade. Whether you’re a competitive grade surfer (or just fancy yourself one), an amateur, or just like to watch other athletes carve up some waves, there’s no place better to be this March than the Noosa Surfing Festival.

See their website for more details here.