Our Festival wouldn’t be possible without the staff and volunteers who make it all happen. With 6+ months of planning and organising in the background to deliver this amazing world-class surf contest, popup beach bar, and all the other Festival activations happening around Noosa. Our team is dedicated and passionate about creating and sustaining this long and illustrious Surf Festival for the community to enjoy.
Festival Director – Josh Allen
Originally from Sydney, Josh saw the light and moved North to the Sunshine Coast in 2015.
With a background in Logistics and Marketing, it’s no wonder Josh excels at planning, organising, and managing events for a living.
A larrikin with a well-guided head on his shoulders, Josh is a people person and a professional operator that wants nothing more than to put smiles on people’s faces as they enjoy the events he works overtime to deliver.
Since taking over in 2020, Josh has managed to pull off some of the most memorable Festivals. Despite challenging surf conditions, Covid, managing 400+ surfers and a beach bar, it’s a miracle Josh still has enough time to raise a young family and run his own pub!
Festival Chairman – John Finlay
John is the owner of World Surfaris, who had been a sponsor of the Noosa Festival of Surfing for many years.
When management of the Festival became available at short notice in 2018, John didn’t hesitate to commit and has taken the Festival to new heights implementing several groundbreaking initiatives.
Adamant that long term sustainability was to be a key element in the Festival’s future, John eliminated all single-use plastics in the first year and also introduced a Sustainability Pledge and Report.
More the elder statesman these days, John is never backward in leading by example in all Beach Bar activities and plays an important role in pre-tasting all our suppliers before the Festival.
Contest Director – Tully St John
Laguna Bay Longboards & Shotgun Surfboards are brands synonymous with the Noosa and Sunshine Coast surfing fraternity since the 1970s.
After traveling Australia and the world, Tully’s father, Mike lured a young Tully back into the shaping bay where the father & son combination began.
In all his spare time, Tully takes the reigns coordinating 400+ competitive surfers for the annual Noosa Festival of Surfing.
For 3 weeks Tully lives and breaths tides, currents, swell, wind, and what the sand is doing to ensure our surfers are surfing the best waves and giving them the greatest opportunity for success.
Noosa Malibu Club President – Glen Gower
Glen Gower is the quintessential Noosa local having grown up on Hastings Street in the 60′s and early 70′s. This upbringing started Glen’s addiction to Noosa and it’s world-famous surf breaks.
Back then, Glen shared his playground of Noosa main beach and it’s world class point breaks with just a handful of his best mates and siblings. Moving to Sunshine Beach in 1974 (thought to be the end of the earth in those days!!), Glen found that surfing the Opens with little or no company was both fun and scary at times. “I am truly grateful and humbled by my blessed surfing life and my biggest thrill is sharing special days in the surf with friends and especially my family”
Surfing perfect Noosa point waves has been described as like having a cup of tea with god, if so then I have had to top up my cup hundreds of times over 40 years of surfing Noosa”.
Head Judge – Keenan Roxburgh
If being a professional surfer is the best job in the world, then being a professional surf contest judge is a likely second?
Keenan is a seasoned judge with several years of experience judging a variety of comps from longboard world tour events on the WSL to local boardriders at a deserted beaches on the weekend.
With arguably the hardest job out of anyone involved with the Festival. Keenan takes it all in his stride and is a true professional.
Over the years Keenan has experienced a pivotal shift in the longboarding scene paying homage to the Noosa Festival of Surfing for being a big reason why innovation and delineation between traditional log events and performance longboarding have become obvious.
Marketing Manager – Zach Large
Originally from across the ditch, Zach is a fitness-loving, rugby league-mad kiwi who spent 3.5 years as brand & marketing manager for none other than Heads of Noosa Brewery. Zach joined the Festival team in 2023 and has several years experience in events & festivals working all over Australia, New Zealand & the United States including stints with Red Bull and Tequila brand Volando.
Despite only living in Noosa since 2019, Zach lives the Noosa life every day and is a valued member of the community. He is often seen with camera in hand capturing moments for his clients, or with his laptop in a local cafe working out the best digital marketing campaigns for them.
Media Manager – Thomas Alexander
A wearer of many hats and an expert of all. Tommy is a huge asset to the Festival team with professional writing skills, a social media expert, and a graphic design extraordinaire.
But what Tommy is perhaps the most well known for is his ability to articulate the movement of each and every surfer who competes during the Noosa Festival of Surfing from the commentators box.
Every year Tommy engages and captivates an audience with his slick and witty commentary.
First Aid & Water Patrol – Stuart Jeays
Be nice to Stuey, there’s every chance he could be saving your life one day. Stuey is our resident water patrol, first aid officer and Brad Pitt wannabe, whose job it is to patrol the lineup and keep a safe contest site.
Although Stuey spends more time-saving members of the public than competitors. His presence and a happy smile are appreciated by all.
On a serious note, Stuey is a professional lifeguard patrolling several Sunshine Coast beaches and is a very good surfer himself competing in a handful of the pro divisions and usually doing quite well.
Glenn Currie – Site Crew Manager
Every festival team needs a man like Glenn!
Glenn has been our site manager since 2021. Being 6’6″ in stature helps big Glenny with his role at the festival.
A gentle giant, Glen is quite often seen laughing in between jobs around the comp site or making sure the beer is cold in the bar. A super reliable resource for the Festival.
Annie Long – Social Media Coordinator
Many may argue that Annie has the most important job in the entire festival. Why? because if it wasn’t on social media…did it actually happen?!
Annie is all over it and does a great job of managing the Festivals social media accounts making sure our competitors know when they’re surfing, our sponsor messages are correct and frequent and the general public know exactly when things are happening!
You can regularly find Annie “working” in the bar or at the contest site…Annie is yet to work a single day at or for the festival, because the reality is, this job is her everyday life anyway.
Amanda Pummer – Sustainability Coordinator / Waste Management
Amanda is one of the happiest ladies on site and a reliable resource when it comes to all things sustainability and waste management…or an extra mums shoulder to cry on when times get stressful.
Amanda has an amazing understanding of the environment and ways people can innovatively contribute to positively impacting it. She is a big reason why the Festival is the gold standard when it comes to sustainability and has developed a procedure making it extremely easy for us to achieve sustainable success.
You can regularly see Amanda and her Recovery Angels around the Festival site educating the public on appropriate waste disposal and tips on how they can be more climate conscious.
Melissa Hoareau – Photographer
Originally from the French Riviera, Mel is deeply passionate about underwater photography which all started during her travels around Australia.
It was during these travels, Mel stumbled across Noosa and instantly fell in love. Captivated by the special atmosphere of the place, Mel ended up buying a housing case and a pair of fins to start shooting her favourite spots, Tea Tree and Boiling Pot.
Mel has worked with many talented surfers over the years and is regularly in the middle of the lineup shooting her friends and anyone else who happens to cruise by.
With big shoes to fill of Dave Gleeson, Mel brings youthful perspective to the Noosa Festival of Surfing and she lets her work do the talking!
