AMERICA’S two-time men’s world champion, Taylor Jensen, will headline Surfest’s first WSL longboard events at Merewether beach next month.
The James Bros. Longboard Classic on February 13-14 will take in men’s and women’s divisions as part of the World Surf League’s qualifying series for the format. The 1000-point contests carry prizemoney of $5000 and $2000 respectively.
Longboard competitions will be held at this weekend’s Lake Mac Festival of Surfing at Redhead, which is part of Surfest, but they have never been staged at Merewether, which hosts the 12-contest carnival’s marquee events. The Burton Automotive Pro and the Grandstand Physio Women’s Pro 6000-point QS competitions will run from February 19-25.
Surfest chief Warren Smith was thrilled to have new events join “Australia’s biggest festival of surfing”.
“We haven’t had a WSL longboards event included at Merewether and to have the James brothers stump up to make it happen is another demonstration of the growing involvement of Newcastle businesses getting behind Surfest,” he said.
Entries for the James Bros. Longboard Classic close January 30 at 5pm.
