The Hydralyte Sports Surf Series hits Cronulla this weekend and it is set to propel the country's best young surfers into the future with the full support of Surfing Australia and the World Surf League.
The three-event Pro Junior series started at the idyllic North Stradbroke Island in January before heading to Cronulla and Bells Beach.
The WSL sanctioned Pro Junior events, which includes 18 and under boys' and girls' divisions, form part of the 2019 WSL Australasian Junior Qualifying Series.
The winning athletes will be provided with an opportunity to win a coveted world title at the 2019 World Surf League Junior Championships.
Cronulla Boardriders Club's Jay Brown, who is coming to the end of his junior career, is the fifth seed at the event and is backed up by clubmates Jordy Turansky, Oliver Watson and Zac McMartin.
Jarvis Earle is flying the flag for the Elouera club.
Proudly supported by WSL, Hyundai, 2xp and Surfing Australia, the Hydralyte Sports Surf Series will provide an important event platform at a crucial point in the development of Australia's leading junior surfers.
At Coffs Harbour, the finish of the Billabong Oz Grom Cup saw nine new champions crowned following a week of exciting action in two-to-three foot peaks at Park Beach.
Surfing Sutherland Shire's local star performer was Evie Fisher who once again showed she will be a dominant future force taking out the under-10 girls event over Byron's Lehani Kaloh-Zoric.
Cronulla surfers had a little pulse of swell over the long weekend with Sunday proving to be a holiday hit with the crowds-a good 4ft of East swell had all the beaches and reefs breaking which was welcome for the school holidays.
Monday still had some small swell but it's almost all gone now with the Magic Seaweed forecast saying todays 2-3 ft swell is on a gradual decline until a new South swell hits on Saturday with a 4-6ft peak predicted.
The winds are going to be pretty much offshore all week and this weekend swell will also kick on into next week so we have something to look forward to-the morning tides are super low so if you can get a surf with a bit of water over the banks you will be doing yourself a favour.
The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, Stop No. 2 on the 2019 World Surf League Championship Tour , was called off yesterday due to small swell and an unfavorable wind direction.
When competition continues the opening men's heat will see World Title hopeful Julian Wilson take on 11-time WSL Champion Kelly Slater . Both surfers will look to bounce back from sub-par results at Stop No. 1 on the Gold Coast.
Owen Wright took a vital win in his Elimination Round over Jack Freestone and Trials winner Harrison Mann (AUS). Despite Wright and Freestone advancing, the heat saw no shortage of drama with a heat pause after something was spotted in the lineup, which turned out to be a large plume of seaweed.
"Jack and I saw a big shadow and started to paddle in not knowing what it could be," Wright said. "Jack was waving at the skis and they came over to us and we jumped on the back and went to see what it was. We got over to the shadow and it turns out it was a massive clump of seaweed but it was good that we took the precaution and the safety protocols worked well. I'm really stoked to make it out of the Elimination Round not only to avoid the 33rd but also because it looks like there is some great waves coming at the end of the event window."
When competition continues in the women's, injury replacement Sage Erickson (USA) will battle for a big result in the all-Californian matchup with World Title hopeful Lakey Peterson (USA) in the round of 16.
