Wave Rally wins 2026 WA Sport Promotion Award
by Paul van Bellen 14 Sep 13:15 PDT
The Wave Rally World Championships has won the Sport Promotion Award at the 2026 Western Australian Sailing Awards, recognising the Geraldton-born event for promoting windsurfing, Geraldton and the Mid West to national and international audiences.
Australian Sailing - WA described Wave Rally as a "truly world-class international event" and highlighted its achievements in participation, innovation, community engagement and global promotion of the sport.
The 2026 event attracted 73 competitors aged 14 to 72, including 17 international sailors from eight countries. Facebook views rose by more than 700% to over 814,000, while YouTube views grew by 550% to more than 50,000. Australian Sailing - WA also cited an estimated economic benefit of more than $126,000 to the Mid West.
Based on publicly available sporting-event YouTube figures reviewed by Wave Rally organisers, Wave Rally has recorded the largest YouTube audience of any sporting event in Western Australia's Mid West. The 2026 coverage achieved more than 50,000 YouTube views from a media budget of just $2,500.
"Winning this award is a huge acknowledgement of everyone who has helped build Wave Rally and of what a Geraldton event can achieve. We created Wave Rally to deliver exciting windsurfing while showcasing Coronation Beach, Geraldton and the Mid West to audiences around the world." Paul van Bellen | Wave Rally World Championships
Wave Rally combines slalom racing and wave sailing on a figure-eight course through the surf zone at Coronation Beach, with beach starts and finishes and racing on wave-oriented equipment. The event operates within a five-day window, with competition held on the two best wind days.
The award strengthens Wave Rally's push to establish Geraldton as a destination for international windsurfing while generating tourism, media and economic benefits for the region. Wave Rally returns to Coronation Beach in January 2027.