The Gold Coast Pro won’t be at Snapper Rocks this year. Photo: WSL
There’s going to be some changes for the Gold Coast Pro. Today the World Surf League (WSL) announced that the upcoming Championship Tour (CT) event would be relocating from Snapper Rocks to Burleigh Heads. The reason for the change was concerns that the Snapper Rocks bathymetry has been temporarily altered by Tropical Cyclone Albert, and will not recover in time for the event.
Snapper Rocks is famous for its endless lines of long, perfect waves. The cause of those waves is a mile-long, man-made sandbar known ad the Superbank. The phenomena is formed by sand that has been dredged from the nearby Tweed River and pumped over to the nearby beaches by the Tweed Sand Bypass System. It’s one of the few examples of human intervention on a surf break that actually managed to improve the waves.
However, Alfred threw a major wrench in the works. According to the WSL, the ex-tropical cyclone left a deep trough where the waves typically break at Snapper, disrupting the bathymetry critical for its iconic peeling waves. While the sand pumping system will eventually replenish the Superbank, erosion along the Tweed Coast has left limited sand available to do so, meaning that it won’t likely happen in time for the CT event at the start of May. As a result, the event will be moving to Burleigh Heads.
“While we are of course disappointed Snapper Rocks won’t be hosting the highly anticipated return of the Championship Tour this May, we know Burleigh is a world-class point break which will challenge the globe’s very best surfers,” Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn said. “For surfing fans, the relocation of the Gold Coast Pro to Burleigh provides a unique and very special opportunity to watch the world’s leading surfers do battle at one of the world’s most iconic surfing destinations steeped in history. There is no doubt our famous Super Bank at Snapper will return better than ever, planning for this in 2026 is underway, and we look forward to seeing the Gold Coast Pro back to its rightful home for the 2026 event and beyond.”
“Snapper Rocks is one of the most perfect waves in the world, and this was an extremely difficult decision to shift locations,” said WSL APAC President Andrew Stark. “Our priority is to ensure world-class conditions for our athletes and fans, and given the state of the bank at Snapper Rocks and the lack of time to replenish the sand, we are confident this is the right decision to ensure the success of the 2025 Gold Coast CT. We are fortunate on the Gold Coast to have another world-class, right-hand point break just up the coast that has a rich history of running elite surfing events, so we will relocate this year’s event to the iconic Burleigh Heads. We look forward to celebrating this event in a community steeped in surfing history. We are grateful to our partners at Experience Gold Coast & Tourism and Events Queensland, who have been so supportive towards reaching this decision. We absolutely look forward to returning to Snapper Rocks in 2026.”
The WSL added that, while Burleigh will serve as the primary event site, Greenmount, Kirra, and Snapper Rocks will remain under active consideration as mobile options, should conditions allow throughout the event window.
