The 2026 New Zealand Women’s Surf Festival is a celebration of our surfing Wahine here in Aotearoa and will include the NZ Surf Series, NZ Grom Series and NZ Longboard Series.
The event this year includes under 14 Girls, 16 Girls, 18 Girls, Open Women, Open Women’s Longboard, Over 40s Women and Novice divisions as well as extras including the epic Salt Gypsy Expression Session, the Hyper Ride Foamie Challenge fun heat & a skateboarding session with the team from Skateboarding NZ, all focused on empowering our female surf community.
The festival will be held across the coming weekend, March 14th-15th, at the beautiful Pauanui Beach in the Coromandel.
A promising swell is set to arrive bringing with it fun surf conditions for all the competitors and participants to enjoy over the two days of the event window.
A full schedule of fun and competition for the kiwi female surfing community will take place over the two days with community focused activities outside of the surfing including yoga classes, sauna sessions, skateboarding demos, pop-up shops, brand activations, learn to surf lessons and more.
While some of New Zealand’s top female surfers have entered the event there is also a focus on participation in the Novice division, giving some of our female surfers a chance to enjoy their first ever surf competition without the worry of battling the more experienced competitive surfers.
A great chance for them all to connect with other female surfers from around the country, encouraging participation, a fun heat for everyone involved to enjoy the surf and also the social activities over the weekend together with support for all participants.
With one hundred and fourteen entrants confirmed, the weekend promises to be a coming together of NZ female surfers from near and far to enjoy the Coromandel coastlines and Pauanui beaches.
The essence of the weekend is to encourage all our surfing Wahine, from the Groms that are leading the way as the next generation of competitive surfers to represent NZ, to our surfing Mums and those more experienced female surfers to have a go, enjoy the fun of competition, be positive and supportive to one another and strive to reach their personal surfing goals.
The draw and full results from the event can be viewed at www.Liveheats.com/SurfingNewZealand.
Further Information
For further information on the 2026 NZ Women’s Surf Festival please contact Surfing New Zealand’s Gavin Bisman on 027-446-4174 or email gavin.bisman@surfingnz.co.nz
Imagery
High resolution action images of the surfing will be available to media free of charge. Please contact Gavin Bisman for further details.
Partners
Generous support from Thames-Coromandel District Council, Lorna Jane, Harcourts Pauanui, Salt Gypsy, HyperRide, Surf Shell Surf Hats, Zeffer Drinks, Cocobella / The Collective NZ, Neufound Eyewear, The Sauna Project Coromandel Coast, Raglan Roast, Awatere Wines, Pauanui Surf School, Wild Coast Collective, Skateboarding NZ, Aotearoa Women’s Surfing Association & Surfing New Zealand has made this event possible.
Follow the event
Follow the action via social media @surfingnz across Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok.
Surfing New Zealand is proudly partnered by:
ACC New Zealand
Sun Bum
Kiwi Holiday Insurance