Important 2026 Competitor Update: What You Need to Know
As preparations ramp up for the 2026 Noosa Festival of Surfing, the Festival team would like to share several important updates for competitors.
The 2026 schedule will closely follow the successful 2025 format, with clear divisions, improved flow and enhanced communication around heat times. This approach ensures fairness while maximising time in the water. The full event schedule will be published to Live Heats and integrated with the Festival website approximately 2 weeks before the start of the event. In case you are unsure of previous years scheduling, often it looks like this:
- Opening Weekend (14-15 March): All Juniors including Finals usually on Sunday, Team Challenge, Family Challenge, Dog Surfing and some Over Age Women’s Divisions.
- Early weekday (16-17 March): All Over Age Divisions up to and including Semi Finals.
- Second half of weekday including Saturday (18-21 March): Logger Pro, HP, Old Mal early heats > Twin Fin, Noosa Longboard Pro (WSL LQS)
- Finals Day (22 March): All Finals across the entire Festival including the WSL if not wrapped up on Saturday.
In response to competitor feedback, all finalists will receive a trophy at presentation day in 2026. This has been updated from previous years where the consensus was that finalists finishing 5th or 6th didn’t want a trophy. The update is a meaningful acknowledgment of achievement across every division. Prize money structures will also remain strong, ensuring the Festival continues to reward performance at the highest level. Prize Money will be as follows (subject to change):
- Men’s WSL LQS (Noosa Longboard Pro) = $5,000
- Women’s WSL LQS (Noosa Longboard Pro) = $5,000
- Men’s Logger Pro = $2,500
- Women’s Logger Pro = $2,500
- Old Mal Mixed = $1,500
- Men’s HP Longboard = $1,000
- Women’s HP Longboard = $1,000
- Men’s Twin Fin = $500
- Women’s Twin Fin = $500
- Team Challenge = $500
All judging will operate in line with Surfing Australia rules and guidelines, maintaining consistency, safety and integrity across all divisions. However, The Festival prides itself on innovation and will comunicate subtle rule changes if deemed appropriate to continue progressing the genre of Longboarding so it remains exciting, popular and continues to grow.
To view the Festivals Rules & Guidelines click HERE.
“Noosa has always been about respecting the competitors and the history of the sport,” said Noosa Malibu Club President Glen Gower.
“These updates reflect that commitment.”
Festival Contest Director Tully St John added:
“We’re focused on clarity, fairness and delivering the best possible experience for every surfer in the water. Regular updates from our team will begin to become more frequent as we get closer to the Festival. This approach is designed to keep surfers informed so they can do their absolute best surfing and be rewarded for it.”
We encourage any 2026 competitors reading this to share it with your fellow competitors. We would also like to take this opportunity to ask that you contact the Festival team if you are unsure or don’t agree with any of our rules and processes including scheduling. The reason this Festival is so highly reputable is because of its surfers and your feedback over the years has helped shape what it has become and what it will continue to be for the youth coming through.
If you haven’t already done so, please join the Competitors Forum on Facebook.
Read more articles
