For the whole of April, 20 surfers and the organising committee will be on 'stand by' waiting for the best conditions to host the competition.

Warrnambool Boardriders Club president Baz Law said the weather and swell maps would be closely monitored to pick the best weekend of the month for the competition.

Twenty south-west surfers have been invited to compete in the main event and there will also be a single fin expression session.

Mr Law said the event was named after Cooper, an Indigenous surfing legend from Warrnambool in the 1960s and 70s.

"Norm passed away in 1988, but is still well remembered as one of the most radical surfers we have ever seen," he said. "He had a great style and was a really friendly guy. The traditional owners have come on board with their support as well as Coastcare, Landcare and many other groups. We are hoping to make a great day of it." 

Mr Law said the event could possibly go ahead this weekend, or perhaps Easter. 

"We have a waiting period of April so we can get big waves for the event," he said.

"We just keep an eye on the swell and a few days out we will go to a code orange, get ready, then the day before go to a code green if the competition is going ahead. We will be using jet skis to ferry the surfers in and out for the heats."

On the competition day there will be a welcome to country. After the surfing competition a party and celebration will be hosted at the Warrnambool harness track near Thunder Point.

"There will be speakers and music from The Monaros and Lee Morgan Band," he said. "There will be a free barbecue and activities for the kids. We want this to be a family-friendly event."

Mr Law said he hoped to expand the event to two days next year, with competitions for women, juniors and other surfers held at the Flume on one day and the bigger competition at Logans Beach. Mr Law encouraged people to attend the event to check out some of the south-west 's best surfers. He said people could visit the Warrnambool Boardriders or Bool Boards Facebook pages to confirm which day the competition would be held. 

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