Snapper Rocks Returns To WCT In 2025
After five years in the surfing wilderness, Snapper Rocks is back on the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour.
The event will return to Coolangatta from 2025 after the WSL inked a four-year deal with the City of Gold Coast and Tourism and Events Queensland.
Snapper Rocks was the season opener for the elite surfing tour for two decades until the event was axed in a major shake-up to the schedule during the COVID pandemic.
The Snapper Rocks WCT event was cancelled in 2021 (Photo: Kelly Cestari)
The WSL took a break from competition during the first year of the pandemic and when it returned in 2021, the Gold Coast lost its hosting rights because of a dispute between the Queensland government and WSL over COVID restrictions.
The Queensland leg of the tour was moved to New South Wales.
For the past three years Snapper Rocks has instead hosted the opening event of the WSL's second-tier competition, the Challenger Series, as part of a revamped format for professional surfing.
The championship tour contest was an important part of the social fabric and surf culture of Coolangatta — a region that has produced more world champions than anywhere in the world.
Widespread impact
Three-time world champ and two-time winner at Snapper Rocks, Mick Fanning, said losing the event had been a heartbreaking blow to the community.
"To not have it here was so sad, not only for us surfers who want people [to] surf our waves, but also for the kids growing up seeing what the benchmark is and what is actually possible at their home break," he said.
Fanning welcomed its return.
"It's an event that's obviously close to my heart," he said.
"There is so much history that has gone on even before I was on tour.
"It's not just for Gold Coast kids, it's for everywhere — far north New South Wales, up the Sunny Coast — people would travel from all over."
Major attraction
Tourism and Events Queensland predicted the event's return to the Gold Coast would attract 14,000 fans and inject $2.9 million into the local economy.
The WSL is yet to reveal how Snapper Rocks will fit in to the 2025 schedule and whether its addition will mean another location is on the chopping block.
The 2024 Australian leg includes stops at Bells Beach in March and Margaret River April.
It is likely the Gold Coast will become the final event before the mid-season cut, or the first event after the cut.
Fanning said the WSL had made the right call.
"You have got to make sure the premier waves, the premier locations are on the world tour because that's where you want to see the best surfing done," he said.
"If that's the last event for the cut then that's incredible.
"It's a lot more predictable than Margaret River.
"You can let your surfing do the talking at Snapper, it's always fairly consistent there are not big changes throughout the day."
© Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comments
Wow. Supposed to be only 2CT events per country, and Margs has confirmed for 4 more years.
Bells can't be touched.
Must be going to make some new rules and have 3 (as they did in pandemic).
State government press releases in the last few weeks:
Victoria, April 1: "The Allan Labor Government has locked in the iconic Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach until 2028"
https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/iconic-bell-keep-ringing-surf-coasts-rip-...
Western Australia, April 18: "New agreement locks in Western Australian Margaret River Pro for four years until 2028"
https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Cook-Labor-Government/...
Check the date for the Vicco one. Could be a prank that slipped through. :)
Good to see Snapper back.
they've been broke that rule in 2021 and 2022 having Pipe, Sunset and Trestles
They mention first on the leg before Bells or after Margies.
Excellent news for the tour but where would you fit it?
If you want surfers to get the best chance you’d want it between Feb- April period. May / June too late.
Could this mean Pipe might go back to end of year? Kick off with the goldy?
the obvious place to fit it would be after Hawaii- instead of Portugal.
Right you are
Yes, and yes.
Yes please
It'll be great to have Snapper back on tour, it's a no-brainer as a WCT event location.
Nice!
Good move, hopefully they move Pipe back to the last event.
Another wildcard possibility for Kelly?
100%.
Stoked it's back. I just can't see how the CS is going to be sustainable. Surfing doesn't have enough money to run 3 levels of events
Finally turning this barge around and pointing it in the right direction.
Now, if we could get J-Bay back as well.
Also yes!
Good news....
go away take the circus somewhere else. cooly is already busy enough
Keep circus circus.
Bumper sticker ha.
That's why it's the perfect event location.
I think the west oz government has it in the contract that Margs is the last event before the cut, for eyeballs.
I also read somewhere on Stab that there are movements in progress to shift next years finals to a tropical left reef pass, surely cloudbreak.
Sounds like the new CEO has been listening.
Yep I saw that too. Not to diss the new CEO but this has clearly been in the works long before he appeared. Excited for next years schedule. Bring back JBay too!
Erm, the new CEO hasn't started yet.
But you're right, the sentiment is there - the WSL have been listening.
IMHO the point is not primarily to move the final to a better wave (although having the last stop of the year in an exhilarating location is certainly preferable, regardless of whether the world champ has already been determined by then). The point is to return to a format where a surfer who isn't among the best in all types of waves, is very unlikely to be world champion.
The Cooly Kids were never near as much of a write off as our current world champ in heavy lefts, and eventually won some events in them, but would they have had a few more world titles between them had they been competitive there as well from the start of their careers?
Hello Snapper, bye bye Sardines.
A step in the right direction after what seemed like a endless number of steps to the wrong. Good for them, still work to do. Happy for the competitors especially.
Love it. Any chance of a wildcard for Fanning? He would surely be just as strong a chance of taking out Snapper as Slater at Chopes/Fiji(/Pipe), maybe moreso? Also would bring many more eyeballs to the comp if that’s what they’re after, at least in Australia.
"The championship tour contest was an important part of the social fabric (and surf culture) of Coolangatta"
WTF??? Sounds like something the WSL would say.
It's a surfing contest...woopti-fucken-do.
As someone who has lived many years in and around Cooly, I can clearly state that there is NO social fabric to speak of there. It's a transient town with an egotistical shit fight of surfers, tourists and retirees.
Yeah, I'm sure all the homeless people in Cooly are stoked that their lives will be so much better now the comp will return.
I'm not against the contest per-se, but please don't try and sell it like it's a benefit to all.
As a tourist from SA. I used to love my annual road trip to that coastline since 1982. I remember there was a caravan park at Cooly on the west side of Marine parade that was a great place to stay. Unfortunately as with most great surfing places around the world everybody wants a piece of the action and has succumb to commercialism which in turn has a large impact on the local population. Byron is a classic example.
Three-time world champ and two-time winner at Snapper Rocks, said losing the event had been a heartbreaking blow to the community.
"To not have it here was so sad, not only for us surfers who want people [to] surf our waves, but also for the kids growing up seeing what the benchmark of dropping in is and what is actually possible at their home break," he said.
He welcomed its return.
"It's an event that's obviously close to my hip pocket" he said.
Yep thats it.
Lol
Thought they were shifting towards waves that were less perfect but broke all the time, like Margs and Sunset, they always seemed to get skunked at snapper but had the occasional great day.
But so long as they end this finals at trestles nonsense the rest will fall into place.
Snapper has had waves for months mate. Name another wave in Australia more consistent over the last three months
I'm not from the area, but based on the stories on these websites it sounds like this has been a once in a decade sort of season?
I'm definitely not against a snapper event, just thought they'd punted it for a reason. I don't think they could get more unlucky than they did the last few events at snapper, including the year there was swell but there was a giant hole at the point.
Snapper has been one of the most consistent venues for surf since it's been on Tour.
They rarely get skunked.
2019 was the only year I can name, and they had a perfectly good back-up venue in D-bah to run heats.
I remember three foot onshore surfable peelers regularly, but always seemed blown out early and rarely solid size.
Again, I'm not against it being on tour, it's definitely not the worst event.
Dbah/NSW will be off the table given that its back being sponsored by QLD tourism again.
As someone who shot for corona and stab quite a few years back in the day, and has thousands of photos to back it up on a NAS somewhere, it barely gets over 3 foot most years unless they luck into a cyclone swell. Anyone remember bobby's rock...
hahahaha, v. much so.
@Simsurf, Dbah is a backup right now, no reason it can't be again. Tweed Shire Council are 100% on board. Also, it was Freddy's Rock mate
Nothing to do with Tweed council in NSW. QLD tourism board is paying for an event in QLD, and like other years when they sponsored it, there will be lay days with no Dbah option.
I’m sorry mate, on this you’re wrong. TSC have approved Dbah as a back up for the current event and have given the WSL a block of land on Coral St for overflow parking. They understand this event, CS or CT, has a significant economic benefit for their shire as well as the GC
Pretty sure there’s been comps in recent years where it was listed as a backup and they chose not to use it even when it would have made the comp way better.
There was.
The state boundary argument makes no sense. QLD Tourism sponsors it because of the economic injection through accomodation, entertainment, and food. A day of competition at D'Bah doesn't change where people sleep for the night.
I think they just don’t like moving the broadcast and being away from their corporate boxes, shops, athlete area etc
Even if it is only a few hundred metres away.
I guess we will unfortunately find out in 2025.
The glory days of mobile contest venues:
"Last week was the twentieth anniversary of Beau Emerton's only CT win.
It was the Gold Coast Billabong Pro and was held at Cabarita for all but one day. The year after, the Billabong Pro was won by Sunny Garcia and it was held at, in order, Burleigh, Snapper, Burleigh, Snapper, Duranbah. Way back in 1996, the event was won by Kaipo Jacquias and was held at four locations: Duranbah, Burleigh, Kirra, and Stradbroke Island.
The above illustrates how mobile the old Gold Coast Billabong Pro used to be. They'd find the best waves between Ballina and Straddie and set up the tents for the day."
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2019/04/01/quiksilver-pr...
They also used to put on lunches every day if you had a press pass. Long gone lol
It was punted due to the QLD Gov pulling the funding of it.
Lame. Don't know why so many people here are obsessed with a Snapper comp. I assume its because they don't have to put up with all the fucking comp blow-in try hards at their break. 9/10 the waves are shit.
"the Gold Coast lost its hosting rights because of a dispute between the Queensland government and WSL over COVID restrictions"????
My understanding is the Wozzle wanted a bag of cash and Annastasia said no. Smiley Miley must have had a change of mind
WSL wanted QLD to cover the costs of Covid Iso and QLD said no.
Copy, thanks Steve. I knew there was a money issue there somewhere
snapper in April, maybe in a La Niña season, but outside of that April is offshore beachies not really snapper pumping but if it wasn feb / march, well thats when snapper pumps imo
should work next year as Bells will be early to mid April. Can run Snapper mid to late March?
where would the Wozzle be without the pollies tipping in
I would love to know out of the last 10 events at snapper how many days of competition were actually “good”. Every image of snapper comps I have in my head is kinda wind blown 2-3ft. Would rather watch 4-6ft Main break any day of the week.
It will be a very high number.
Not too sure how this fits with the schedule
Other than them back tracking to the old format.
Maybe Portugal moew pulled their funding? Otherwise as stated before/ above
Where will they fit it in.
What wave is going to replace it on the challenger series? Merewether?
Honestly I feel.this venue is kind of marred with sub par conditions.
2007 2012 and the year Griff was at Kirra. Good years
Otherwise it's kinda ho hum.....
Please don't bring it to Merewether!
Are you yahoo serious? surfest has been around since 85 almost 40 years.
It's a great place for a contest ct or qs. Or challenger.
Being anti contest surfing in Newy ....that's a strange one....
Personally I find Snapper to be an ideal contest venue, particularly as the first event of the season.
It’s tropical, it’s high performance combo of tubes and manoeuvres and most importantly the joint is already so far beyond cooked that it’s ridiculous to bother talking about exposing the venue. Of course the locals are correct to get upset about forsaking their break for the duration but anyone who’s ever shared a lineup with Gold Coast surfers knows they are often the least likely to share a lineup in a civil fashion where ever that maybe. This even applies to those Snapper locals who are actually Australian.
Bring it on.
Nailed it.
"So far beyond cooked" - Yokel
Surfed there during the comp. Everybody was trying to surf as close to comp area as possible, while Greenmount was cruisy, clean and 3-4ft. Still remember waves from that session.
The 500 or so snapper displaced surfers at any one time will be greeted with open arms at Burleigh heads by the local boys…sharing is caring.
Not really displaced- one of the good things about it is the comp until goes to Little Marley- so free surfers can surf from there down to Spot X.
WSL Cooly Hard Fizz Gig locks in $8m...there's ya $3m State handout paid back in Grog alone!
Reckon you'd need $8m to offsest them Bell's Glass Towers Condos.
FR oh well that’s good then….hopefully there are waves in abundance all the way down the line. I’m not a comp watcher but appreciate the surfing.
Had the best surf of my life there when superbank first formed….could not believe what was happening …and the leg burn brutal but the big deep tubes mind blowing….i was like stunned mullet walking back for another and another…
…had quite a few surfs there since always staying at the mighty greeny beach hotel…
Loved an early long session and then the greeny buffet before it shut…crap coffee though.
Amazing place and if I ever surf it again it will out wide on a longboard….zero competitive edge these days ha ha.
Old Johnny Farnham's heat......
Occmonster to drop in on one of ‘em
Strictly from both Goldie & Qldurrz point of view...
Noting election is just around the corner...don't be surprised if opposition politicize any mass handout?
Just how many Homes or Nurses does a 4 years Surfie handout buy...
Perfect timing with #1 WSR Piss Up Opponent now the CEO of WSL Closed Shop WSR VIP piss ups.
State handout deal depends on WSL CEO collaring SurfRider's opposition to Goldie Mayor's VIP Beach Bars.
Local Knowledge...watch this space...burp! Surfriders now love a tipple...lappin' it up from their dog bowl!
Lock up yer Beaches! [SOLD]
Private Function...No Access again today...So sorry...Fuck off our VIP beach!
Happened to Goldie tbb many times over...looks like yer all gonna meet the Beach Bouncer more often!
Shhh don't tell em about treetops tbb
...................
Damn you lanky Dean...sounds like tbb shoulda picked up on that...got one over me there!
Wotz more interesting is ALP have no candidates in both WSR seats nor any GC seats
So! No Bugz or WSL Pro to sell this Massive Goldie Surf deal...just falls flat...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candidates_of_the_2024_Queensland_state_el...
Perhaps other World Champs > Cheyne or Andy are runnin'
Maybe Kelly can run for ALP become new Qld Premier...no one's laughing!
https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/a8097eb3f36615d2e25ffbc2c054fb2b
Fact is the only dude that's profiteering from WSL Hard Fizz Gig is Burleigh [L] Candidate Vorster.
Correct! Premier just shot himself in the foot by loadin' up WSL Hard Fizz shares for [L] candidate!
$5m in tickets + $3m on the WSL Fizz > straight into the pocket of Burleigh [L] Pollie's Campaign!
[4:08:20] WSL Pros Laura Enever / Nikki Van Dijk / WSL DJ Fishy's "Hard Fizz" bankroll [L] Burleigh Campaign
Even weirder is Qld Premier just Declared a Liberal Election Win...6 months out from Election.
So why is Goof Campaigning for [L] & pissing away 4 years play money...
Why is he selling off Goldie Beaches to pay for [L] Tom's Bar Tab.
Perhaps Tom is renting out Ruth's Handbag for the Premier's brown paper bag donations?
Either Premier is campaigning for [L] or just plain thick...Ok to choose either or both!
WSR Brewards legless roundtable might yet be the board of choice for XXXX Surf Management Plan.
Cyclone season is best, commit-teez concensu$ decision was tu'be late.
Imagine the world champ heat/s out in a solid swell....
WSL circus fly around the world, wondering why the ocean is warming, hearing the swell was pumping weeks before their show started...
Haven't read through the whole thread so not sure if it's addressed, but I wonder if this news throws the CS a li'l off balance?
Meaning, there's always been gripes about CS surfers - like QS surfers before them - qualifying in rubbish then having to instantly shift from billycart tracks to F1 circuits, yet Snapper as a CS at least offered some quality to the aspirants.
Now it's been promoted, CT surfers are cheering, and the CS is back to all shifting beachbreaks again.
Maybe they should promote ujung bocor to the changa?
Was gunna say- surely they can add a better quality reef to the schedule, or put Hawaii back there, at least.
Or Jbay if it's not back on the CT
J-Bay has to go back to to the top, surely.
Well it should be but this is the WSL.