SURFEST Newcastle Australia 2023 presented by Reflections Holiday Parks is
ready to host hundreds of athletes, their families and supporters from the Asia-
Pacific region – all of whom will help provide a major boost to the NSW regional
economy.
With a whopping nine events scheduled for the biggest festival of surfing in the
southern hemisphere, the 37 th Surfest will offer three World Surf League (WSL)
sanctioned events featuring many of the best prospective talents in world surfing.
Surfest has events scheduled for three local government areas – City of Newcastle,
Port Stephens and City of Lake Macquarie – along the Hunter’s magnificent
coastline.
The three WSL sanctioned events slotted for this year’s Surfest include the
Qualifying Series (QS)5000 Burton Automotive Pro and the QS5000 Speaking in
Colour Womens Pro. Both offer a prize purse of $50,000 and are scheduled to take
place at national surfing reserve Merewether beach. The Lake Mac City Pro Junior
will be held at Redhead beach. Surfers from Indonesia, Hawaii and Japan have
already registered for the competitions.
Besides the WSL events, Surfest will also offer The Mutual Bank High Schools
Challenge, Surfest Indigenous Classic, Evolution Charity Cup, Sanbah Cadet Cup
presented by Ocean & Earth, Burton Automotive Wildcard Trials and Lake Mac City
Pro Junior Trials.
With the support of the NSW Government through Destination NSW – the state’s
lead government agency for the NSW tourism and major events sectors – Surfest
will help drive visitor growth to Newcastle and the Hunter.
City of Newcastle Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said the city is proud to be associated
with Surfest.
“As the proud foundation sponsor, City of Newcastle has long enjoyed a long and
valuable relationship with Surfest,” Cr Nelmes said.
“Surfest showcases the city’s iconic surf breaks and provides locals, competitors and
tourists the opportunity to see some of the best surfers in the world while ensuring
local businesses benefit from the influx of people to the wide range of events.
“We look forward to welcoming the surfers, their supporters and sporting fans to our
city for this world-renowned event and encourage them to explore everything
Newcastle has to offer while they are here.”
Surfest organiser Warren Smith said the annual influx of surfers, their families and
supporters make a significant difference to the feel of the city.
“We are expecting more than 800 surfers to put on the competitor jersey this year.
“And those surfers and supporters boost demand for accommodation, eat in local
restaurants and both enjoy and contribute to the many aspects of Newcastle’s night
time economy.
“Surfest helps make Newcastle feel like the modern global city it is fast emerging to
be,” he said.
Surfest commences this weekend with the Lake Mac City Pro Junior trials slotted for
Redhead beach on Saturday 11 February and Sunday 12 February.
The full schedule of Surfest 2023 events is available at:
surfest.com/events-schedule/
Full fields for the WSL QS5000 events close on Tuesday 21 February.
