But since the competing surfers and their entourage for the Newcastle Cup have rolled into town, "the stretch", as it's often referred to, has been alive with the wetsuited bodies of the world's best, with a growing battalion of photographers on the sand and in the water, shooting the action for posterity.

And for instant replay.

In the digital age, a surfer's waves can be posted online almost as soon as they have flicked off. It's surfing and surf promotion at warp speed, and it whets the enthusiasm of surf groms and older fans around the world as they follow their favourite competing surfers chasing that road to glory.

THE HERALD'S TOP HUNTER SURFERS SERIES SO FAR:

For Novocastrians, the World Surf League's Newcastle Cup is a chance to see the world's best in action, and to cross our fingers and hope that one or more of our local hopes can go all the way, or at least go deep into the event as the knockout style competitions in both men's and women's work their sudden-death ways towards the finals.

As you can see from our group photo, Newcastle has one entrant in the women's event - our high-profile local Philippa Anderson.

We have four men with Newcastle in their lives.

Two are born-and-bred locals: Ryan Callinan and Jackson "Jacko" Baker.

Then there's Morgan Cibilic, whose family moved to Newcastle from Angourie when he was 11, and the proud Queenslander Julian Wilson, who married his long-time girlfriend, Novocastrian Ashley Osborne, in 2017 - making him an adopted son of our Surf City.

Callinan, Cibilic and Wilson are in the event as seeded Championship Tour (CT) surfers, while Baker and Anderson are the two wild card entries chosen by Merewether Surfboard Club as the host club for the event venue.

As much as Newcastle loves Wilson, the Sunshine Coast locals would come at us with state-of-origin sticks if Newcastle claimed full ownership of a surfer who's been a name up there since he was sponsored by Okanui when he was knee-high to a grasshopper.

Talking with the Newcastle Herald last week, Wilson said: "I will always be a Queenslander at heart."

"My wife is from here, her family are locals here, and my heart is where my family is.

"I love spending time in Newcastle, and finding my place here and enjoying what Newcastle has to offer. It's a beautiful place to live."

That's what everyone says nowadays.

Newcastle seems to have finally shed its negative reputation as grimy industrial town.

Our place in surfing history was assured long ago: this October will see the 60^th annual Mattara surf competition, officially the world's oldest continually running surf contest, now that Bells has lost its 2020 and 2021 events to COVID.

Mark Richards, of course, put Newcastle forever on the surfing map with four straight world titles from 1979 to 1982.

Plenty of people say MR's performances forced surfing administrators and a surf media focused on Sydney and Gold Coast to "take Newcastle seriously".

Richards, characteristically, plays down his influence.

But one thing is for sure. The 170 kilometres or so of coast between Fraser Park and Boomerang Beach has produced plenty of great boardriders.

Ryan Callinan's highly charged performances on the CT have made him one of the most sought-after surfers on the planet.

When the sun emerged after the Big Wet late last week to offshore westerly winds and solid lines of quality surf, Callinan joined the pro pack in the water after a strike-mission to a gnarly and rocky left-hander south of the Swansea Bridge.

As we quoted Ryan in yesterday's Top 10 Hunter surfers countdown, he is conscious of the pressure on him as the highest ranked local surfer - equal #9 in the CT rankings, which have 35 seeded positions for the men, and 17 for the women.

The Merewether club had long trumpeted his abilities. Had he thought, back then, that it could turn out like this?

"Maybe not when I was super young, but as I got older it became a goal of mine to get on the Championship Tour," Callinan said.

"Sometimes you set goals and you are hopeful that they happen.

"I have certainly put a lot of hard work in over the years, and it's paid off now and I am really happy with where I am."

The biggest change in modern technique has been the integration of aerial surfing into the CT circuit, with the younger surfers pushing the older crew into getting an "air game" or getting out.

Aerials, too, are changing all the time.

Those who can do it say spinning the board seems to get more "hang time", like a footballer jumping high over the pack for the ball.

Surfers need to land their aerials, and then continue riding the wave to get the points and Callinan is as good as any, although he is modest enough to say "it doesn't happen all the time".

"I guess its a different perspective and it's just something I love to do," Callinan says.

"To push the limits. And it's something I'd really like to incorporate into my competitive surfing a bit more.

"So hopefully this year is where I am aiming to get a bit more exciting in the water and give people something to think about."

Morgan Cibilic is the other Merewether club member seeded into the CT, ghosting into the final place for a 2020 season that was wiped because of COVID, jumping 100 ranking places in a year backed by what the WSL says was "some incredible surfing in Hawaii".

The Cibilic family moved to Newcastle from the north coast idyll of Angourie in 2012.

Morgan, now 21, moves up and down the coast.

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The Pipeline Masters in Hawaii in December was the first event on the 2021 tour. Cibilic finished equal 17^th , and that's his position on the CT coming in to Thursday's contest.

"I didn't go too well at Pipeline but we've got four events coming up and I'm pretty excited to get it kicked off on home turf," Cibilic told the Herald.

"It's amazing, and thanks to City of Newcastle for their support. It's the biggest event here for a long time and for them to put their hand up to help host it makes it an amazing couple of weeks.

Cibilic says he's been based on the Gold Coast for the past few months, surfing with his South African mate Matt McGilvra, 24, sponsored, like Cibilic, by Rip Curl, and training with coach and former WCT pro Jay "Bottle" Thompson.

"I feel like I'm ready. It should be good.

"We've got Dixon Park as a back-up location and the banks are really nice out there, so we'll see what happens and hopefully get some swell."

The two wildcards, Philippa Anderson and Jackson Baker, are understandably thrilled to be surfing in front of their home crowds.

Anderson turned 29 in January, and has been Newcastle's highest-profile female surfer for some time.

She's been on the QS since 2008, and with CT events under her belt back in 2012 and 2013, she knows what she has to do to get the job done in the women's competition.

Baker also has a solid QS record, having been on the circuit since 2013.

He won in Japan in 2016, took out events at Boomerang, Cabarita and Japan in 2018, and won the Port Stephens Pro in late February.

He and Anderson have also played big roles for Merewether in the national club competition, the Australian Boardriders Battle.

He's recently cut his hair short, but has kept a blond moustache that has become something of a trademark.

Callinan mourned the loss of both his parents in quick succession and Baker will be surfing for his mother, Tracy, who passed away in 2016.

He dedicated his win at the Merewether club's 2017 Mark Richards Man on Man contest to her. His father Guy said yesterday that he was proud of the way his son had been able to "keep a level head about everything".

"Our whole family is so very proud of Jackson, how hard he has worked and what he has achieved," Guy said.

"Tracy was always so proud of Jackson, he made her laugh and she was fiercely competitive for him.

"As always, I know that she will be watching out for him in the coming days."

And so will all of Newcastle. We'll be watching all of our local charges as they do their best, against the world's best.

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