The A1homes New Zealand Festival of Longboarding returns to Pāpāmoa Beach this month bringing the surfing community together for a fun filled weekend.

Coupled with a focus on participation and enjoying what the Bay of Plenty coastline has to offer, the event doubles as a selection event for the New Zealand Longboarding Team with the representative opportunity set to attract our top talent.

The ISA World Longboarding Championship has recently been confirmed to take place in El Salvador in April this year and New Zealand will send a team of two males and two females to the event.

Defending champions Matt Newdick (Auck) and Hannah Kohn (Gis) have confirmed their attendance at this year’s edition of the event hoping to repeat their performances of 2024.

The two surfers went on to represent New Zealand at the World Championships last year alongside Jack Tyro (Chch) and Gabi Paul (Piha).

Paul will also make her presence felt at Pāpāmoa, however, newly minted Men’s Longboard Champion Tyro will be absent from the event while he competes in Australia.

The A1homes New Zealand Festival of Longboarding offers divisions ranging from Under 18 Boys and Girls through to Over 60s as well as the popular Old Mal Division.

More than 100 entries are expected for the event which forms part of the New Zealand Longboard Series.

The series comprises six events including the National Championships held in Taranaki earlier this month, the Gathering of Stoke in Gisborne, the Ray White Duke Festival of Surfing, South Island Championships and the Exit Surf Men’s Canterbury Champs and Women’s Canterbury Championships.

This year marks the introduction of new partners A1homes who support a number of community-based initiatives around the country.

As a nationwide company they are stoked to keep it Kiwi and partner with the domestic longboarding festival and they look forward to hosting everyone and embracing a great weekend of action.

“A1homes​ is a proud New Zealand-owned and operated company that’s all about keeping it Kiwi, providing a homegrown solution for your first home, second home or even your home away from home - supporting local people, products and events,” commented Doug Adsett of A1homes.

“We love our Kiwi way of life and taking advantage of our beautiful coastlines, especially on those off-shore days, that’s why we’re stoked to be sponsors of this great event, and we look forward to watching some of the country’s best surfers take to the water at the A1homes NZ Festival of Longboarding,” he added.

2025 also marks a new partnership with Tauranga City Council across Surfing New Zealand’s two Bay of Plenty events, the first being the Billabong Grom Series event held last weekend.

Defending women's champion Hannah Kohn.  Photo / PhotoCPL

The Bay of Plenty has a rich surfing history and partnering with surfing is a natural fit.

Action will take place at Pāpāmoa Domain from 8am – 5pm daily on Saturday and Sunday.

All heat draws and scheduling plus live scoring can be viewed on Live Heats.

Participation at the event is open to all with entries live until Monday February 10 here.