Nossa, Queensland /AUS (Wednesday, March 6, 2019) - The new look World Surf League (WSL) Longboard Tour (LT) will commence this week at one of the world's most iconic surfing locations, Noosa, Queensland. It's the first time the WSL has run an event at the famed right-hand point break in almost a decade and it's set to be a massive four days with over 100 surfers competing from all corners of the globe. The Noosa Longboard Open will run in conjunction with the Noosa Festival of Surfing, which has already seen an amazing week of surfing and celebrations.
2017 World Longboard Champion Honolua Blomfield (HAW) has been competing at the Noosa Festival of Surfing for a number of years now and is thrilled it will now play a part in crowning World Champions. Blomfield's poise and grace on the nose is suited to the long walls of First Point and should see her go far into the draw this week.
"It's amazing to be back here in Noosa, Queensland," Blomfield said. "I've been coming here for nearly 5 year's now and I really love it - it's such a surf-mad town so it kind of reminds me of my home in Hawaii. It really is a world-class wave so to have a WSL Longboard Tour event here is amazing and makes it even more important to win. I've been here for a few days getting so many good waves so I'm hoping the swell keeps coming and we can have a really incredible week of competition."
Former World Longboard Champion and Sunshine Coast local Josh Constable (AUS) is another surfer with a great affinity with the point breaks of Noosa, Queensland. Having grown up and learned to surf on First Point, Constable will be one to watch when competition commences tomorrow.
"Back when this was a WSL/ASP event I had my first win here and it really kick-started my professional career," Constable said. "I've got a long history with this beach having learned to surf here and now teach my kids here it's a special place for me - I even got married on the sand here. It's so good the direction WSL is taking with longboarding and to start the new look tour off at such an amazing place like this is really special. If you look at some of the names that are in the draw you can see that this tour could really unify longboarding and bring everyone back together like it once was. This is a really exciting time in longboarding and I'm so exciting it's all kicking-off in my home town."
With a fading swell running at First Point, competition will likely kick-off tomorrow at 7:00 am local time.
The Noosa Longboard Open will run from March 7 - 10 and be broadcast live at www.worldsurfleague.com, on the Free WSL App and on WSL's Facebook Live Page.
The WSL Noosa Longboard Open is proudly supported by Tourism and Events Queensland, the Noosa Festival of Surfing, the Noosa Mal Club, WorldSurfaris and Tourism Noosa.