Freshly crowned National Champions, eager groms and local hopefuls are among the many young surfers taking part in a sold-out surfing event in Mount Maunganui.

The first event of the Billabong Grom Series takes place at Tay Street this weekend.

The series then carries on to Whangamata on February 13-14 and Piha at the end of February.

Surfing New Zealand says with top junior surfers remaining in the country this summer, the action is expected to be impressive as everyone vies for qualification into the final event being held in May.

Newly crowned Boys Under 18 National Champion Finn Vette (Gisborne) made the perfect start at Piha winning the title at Nationals.

To win the title, Vette overcame his three close rivals in Kora Cooper, Tom Robinson, and Jayden Willoughby.

All three will all be looking to reverse the results from the National Championships this weekend.

The weather forecast shows a change in weather patterns that will please participants, says Surfing New Zealand.

"Days of strong westerly winds and marginal swell along the Bay of Plenty coastline are expected to give way to a more north-easterly air flow this weekend which will see the swell get to at least 1.0m with onshore winds predicted."

The Under 18 Girls Division will be absent of new National Champion Ava Henderson (Christchurch) who has opted to compete in a Westport event this weekend.

However, her counterparts will be looking to make up some ground on the rankings including Nationals runner-up Brie Bennett, Natasha Gouldsbury and the in-form local talent Anna Brock.

Another local talent looking to carry form into his home event will be Tao Mouldey.

The 13-year-old came away with two titles at Piha – Under 16 and Under 14 Boys.

Mouldey will surf up a division in the Under 16 Boys this weekend in a bid to qualify for the final event.

Surfing New Zealand says for almost half the field of 120 surfers, this will be their first national outing of 2021 after forgoing the week-long National Championships.

Action takes place at Tay Street, Mount Maunganui from 8am until late afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday.

Live scoring can be viewed at www.compusurf.com.au.