Merewether's Jackson Baker will defend his Surfest men's crown on his home break after gaining a late entry into the event, which kicks off on Monday.
The Championship Tour surfer became the first Novocastrian to win the men's contest at Surfest last year when he posted a best two-wave score of 15.5 to defeat Nathan Hedge (11.23), fellow Merewether star Ryan Callinan (10.9) and Billy Stairmand (9.9) in the final.
The 26-year-old regular-footer was not in this year's field for the 5000-point Burton Automotive Pro qualifying series contest when entries closed but the World Surf League over the weekend has allowed him to join the event.
He will surf against local wildcard Manning Gregory and two other qualifiers in the round of 64, likely midweek.
Baker sits equal 27th on the CT after three round of 32 exits this year and he will need better results at Bells Beach and Margaret River to jump into the top 22 and avoid the mid-season cut for a second year. He finished 23rd at the end of his debut CT campaign last year.
Meanwhile, Surfest's men's event is set to start proceedings on Monday with the round of 128.
A host of young local talent, and former Kiwi CT surfer Ricardo Christie, will be among those in the water.
Hunter surfers in action include Taj Turner, Connor Lee, Josh Levey, Ocean Lancaster, Phoenix Visscher, Sam Bisegna, Zack McMahon, Lachlan Smith, Cooper Puttergill, Dom Thomas, Angus Owens, Jordy Liackman, Eden Hasson and Ollie Ryssenbeek.
The first round of the women's contest features locals Amelie Bourke, Philippa Anderson, Ellie Lambkin, Sarah Baum, Jasmine Sampson and Logan Dalton. Anderson is fifth on the Australia/Oceania QS standings hunting a top four spot to secure a Challenger Series start. Surfest is the last QS event.
Also Monday, a Legends Expression session will be held at 3.30pm featuring Pam Burridge, Jodie Cooper, Pauline Menczer and Rebecca Woods.
On Sunday at Merewether, Surfest's Indigenous Classic wrapped up with Rainbow Bay's Taj Simon and Lennox Head's Ocea Curtis claiming a junior-open double.
Simon, 19, won his first open men's title at the annual event, scoring 13.9 to down Landen Smales (12.77), Jed McDonagh (5.8) and Scott Winch (0).
A multiple junior winner at Surfest, Simon's previous best result in the open division was a quarter-final exit.
He also took out the junior boys' section with a total of 17.83, beating Smales (13.33), Zane Silvester (8.53) and McDonagh (6.83).
In the women's decider, Curtis scored 12.83 to hold out Jasmine McCorquodale (9.7), Kauri Heuston-Connor (8.24) and Bodhi Simon (6.23). In the junior girls', she earned 14.83 to dominate the final. Simon (6.83) was second, ahead of Heuston-Connor (5.47) and McCorquodale (4.33).
In the men's masters, Thirroul's Winch (13.6) beat Robbie Page (7.23), Donny James (6.06) and Brook Silvester (5.7).
