AS further COVID restrictions and recommendations around community sport roll out across NSW many local surf events have been forced to cancel or postpone.

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The NSW state longboard and SUP titles were hit on the head last weekend and now the King Of The Box community surf event has been kiboshed until later in the year.

It’s a devastating hit to an already struggling industry that has seen little support through the impacts of COVID-19.

King of the Box Director Teza Mckenna said the event which was scheduled for mid-September will hopefully be back In November for the better.

“We run under Surfing Australia and NSW’s protocols when it comes to our COVID-19 operations plan,” said Teza.

“So after NSW Health released the latest recommendations for sporting events it was very clear that we needed to follow guidelines to ensure the safety of all involved.

“You can never be too careful when it comes to this stuff and once we do run the event we will be following protocol using the new arrive-surf-leave policy.”

The new arrive-surf-leave policy implemented by Surfing Australia means competitors will arrive for their heat, surf in the competition, and then leave the event site pending results to return for their next round.

The new policy also means that there will be no peanut gallery beachside for events for now.

“We will also be disinfecting the competition jerseys, staff members will have masks, no food will be for sale and social distancing rules will be followed,” said Teza.

The winter swells have been on an incredible run in Port Stephens and it’s hoped the waves will stick around for many more months yet in time for the surfing events to return.

By Mitch LEES