2026 Wave Rally World Championships

Details

Fri 09 Jan 2026 9:00AM — Sun 11 Jan 2026 6:00PM

Coronation Beach, Coronation Beach, Chapman Valley, WA

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Event information

Registrations for this event are not currently available.

Welcome to the Wave Rally II and thank you for your interest to participate!

The organising authority for this event is Windsurfing WA Inc., in conjunction with Geraldton Windsurf Club Inc.

See you all at Geraldton Windsurfing Club at Coronation Beach on Friday the 9^th of January, 2026. Bring the fun vibes. It’s going to be epic!

EVENT SCHEDULE

Friday 9^th January, 2026
09:00: Registration
10:30: Welcome & Skippers Meeting
11:30: First Heat
18:00: Last Heat
18:30: Sunset Sesh at 'Playas Lounge' (Event Site)

Saturday 10^th January, 2026
10:30: Skippers Meeting
11:30: First Heat
18:00: Last Heat
18:30: Party at 'Playas Lounge' (Event Site)

Sunday 11^th January, 2026
10:30: Skippers Meeting
11:30: First Heat
18:00: Last Final
18:30: Presentation at 'Playas Lounge' (Event Site)

LOCATION

The Wave Rally World Championships takes place at The Geraldton Windsurfing Club at Coronation Beach, Howatharra, Western Australia.

There is a variety of parking spaces around the event site. The main car park near the club is likely to fill up so you may need to park in available spots up to 100m away. If you can share a lift with a friend to the event that would help congestion.

ELIGIBILITY

Competitors must be members of an affiliated Australian Windsurfing Association organisation (e.g., Windsurfing WA, Geraldton Windsurf Club or their State Windsurfing Association).

Volunteers must register via this link when available - (TBA)

ENTRY

The standard entry fee for Wave Rally is $220. An early bird fee of $170 are for entries registered before the 1stDecember, 2025. Please help the event by entering early and saving yourself some money!

In case you were wondering how much the entry fee contributes to the event, around 65% of the event budget is funded by Sponsors and Government Grants. The remaining 35% is paid for from the entry fees. The cost per entrant to host Wave Rally is around $500 each.

Parents/Guardians must register entrants under 18.

REGISTRATION

Competitors must check in at the ‘Wave Rally Admin' tent in the ‘Playas Lounge’ (Geraldton Windsurfing Club) to pick up their competitor packs and complete registration. The collection of competitor packs is scheduled for Friday, the 9^th of January, 2026 between 09:00 and 10:30.

If you cannot come on time due to an emergency, please reach us through the 'Wave Rally II 2026' WhatsApp group: Official Wave Rally WhatsApp Group. We can’t promise we’ll get you sorted, but we’ll try!

WAVE RALLY CATEGORIES

There will be 4 categories of competitors. However, all sailors will be mixed in the heats. On registration at 09:00 on Friday the 9th January, 2026, all men will be weighed and placed into one of three equally distributed weight divisions. Based on the experience from Wave Rally 2025, the three weight divisions were distributed to these weight ranges. It’s expected to be similar for the 2026 event.

The anticipated divisions are;

Open Women: All women
Lightweight Men: Under a 77kg
Middleweight Men: 77kg to 87kg
Heavyweight Men: Over 87kg

There will be 5 Wave Rally Championship titles on offer. There will be a winner for each category above plus a bonus Overall World Champion belt. The top 8-10 sailors on the 'Wave Rally League Table' after the heats are completed, regardless of category, will race for the Wave Rally Overall World Champion title.

WINDSURF GEAR ALLOWED

The Wave Rally concept is unique as the event is a 'Wave Slalom' style format however with certain rules on gear. The organiser aims to make the racing as fun & equal as possible, so in the spirit of this event, please respect Wave Rally's mission!

The equipment rules are simple;

Must be a wave multi-fin board, either 2, 3 or 4 fins. No single fins.
No boards with centre ‘Power Boxes’ or ‘Tuttle Boxes’ allowed. Boards with ‘Mini Tuttle’ side fins are allowed.
Fins to be swept back wave style fins. No upright slalom style fins.
Maximum 3 footstraps. No weight vests allowed.
Maximum 5 battens on wave style sails. No cambers. No 'Windsurfer LT' sails.
Maximum sail and fin sizes allowed are as follows;

MEN WEIGHT	MAX SAIL SIZE	MAX FIN SIZE
Under 70 kg	4.7	18 cm
70 - 75 kg	5.0	19 cm
76 - 81 kg	5.3	20 cm
82 - 87 kg	5.5	21 cm
88 - 93 kg	5.8	22 cm
94 - 99 kg	6.0	24 cm
100 kg +	6.3	26 cm
ALL WOMEN	5.0	20 cm

COMPETITION FORMAT

There will be 3 competition days out of the 3-day event window.

Competition days 1 & 2 will feature multiple round ‘League Style’ heat races where every sailor gets the same number of heats, with up to 4 rounds per day. Round 1 will be a seeding round. Each round you will be sailing against sailors from all divisions. From Round 2 onwards up to 10 sailors will compete in each heat with places 1^st - 4^th progressing up the heat structure. Places 5^th & 6^th stay in their bracket whilst the places 7^th- 10^th move down a bracket. This way over multiple rounds you are likely to match with sailors of similar ability and give you something to aim for in trying to progress up the heat draw.

Competition Day 3 will see another 2 rounds sailed and once complete the top 20 sailors in each division will enter the Semi Final rounds with max 10 person heats. The top 50% sailors of each Semi Final will enter the Grand Final where the opportunity exists to be crowned Wave Rally World Champion.

There will also be a ‘Mega Final’ where the top 10 ranked sailors after all the rounds are completed regardless of division will go all in for the Overall Wave Rally World Champion!

In the event of light winds, we will be providing inflatable high performance ‘WindSUP’ boards for all competitors to connect their sail to (Uni joint ‘pin system’). The light wind format will be a 'One Design’ race & all competitors will use this board. If wind increases to a suitable level (around 20 knots) the Race Director will announce on the PA system that sailors will transition to their wave gear in accordance with rules outlined above.

For more information about the race format, watch this video - Wave Rally Race

*In the event of a race dispute, the organiser's decision is final. For more information, please refer to the document EVENT RULES AND REGULATIONS in the 'Files for Download' below.

COMMUNICATION

Our phone communication channel is the WhatsApp group “WAVE RALLY II 2026”. You can join via the Offical Wave Rally WhatsApp Group.

SAFETY

There will be a jet ski with a Geraldton Surf Life Saver on the water for your safety. The Department of Transport has not exempted us from wearing life jackets beyond 400m from the shore. If you sail beyond 400m from the shore, the law requires you to wear a Type 2/Level 50 life jacket.

FOOD & DRINKS

Every entry gets 2 x 'Wave Rally Food Tokens' to be used at the JB Cuisine food van. Depending on the number of entrants, a variety of food & drink options will also be available for purchase at food vans. If you have a special diet, please take your own food in case your requirements are not offered at the event. Food vans will aim to be open from 11:00 to 20:00.

ACCOMMODATION

All activities at the Wave Rally event are happening at the Geraldton Windsurfing Club site at Coronation Beach, Howatharra.

For a detailed rundown of the accommodation options at the event site, please watch this video - Wave Rally Accommodation

VOLUNTEERS

The Wave Rally World Championships would not be possible without all the fantastic volunteers giving their time.

If you know someone who would like to volunteer at the event please register here - Volunteer Registration

SPONSORS & SUPPORTERS

Massive thanks to our sponsors for making the 2026 Wave Rally World Championships a reality. This event wouldn't be financially viable without them, so make sure you give them your support.