PHUKET: Phuket's annual surfing competition will transform into a ''Surf Festival'' this September, centring on the west coast Phuket city of Patong and initiating a rolling five-nation series.

The shift from Phuket's Kata beach to Patong and the upgrading of the Phuket tournament to international status were revealed yesterday as sponsors Quiksilver declared open a branded store at Patong's Jungceylon shopping centre.

With the Quiksilver shop on the Phuket centre's second floor comes a Surf Hut on the centre's ground floor where surfing updates and registration will be available until after the September 21-24 surfing titles.

The shift of the competition from Phuket's premier surf beach to Patong was an acknowledgement that the new Surf festival would benefit from being held in Phuket's best-known west coast destination, Quiksilver's Thailand general manager, Surached Mungthong told the media.

Critics have questioned Patong's ability to produce waves of sufficient size to sustain a credible surf contest, but Khun Surached said he was confident that the waves opposite the Graceland Resort and Spa, north of the centre of the beach, would produce a worthwhile contest.

A number of beach tents will mark the contest site and the concluding Saturday night will be celebrated with a free beach rock concert.

Some of Thailand's best bands have been invited and are likely to be playing, although the concert will be strictly limited to 8pm to midnight, he said.

About 100 surfers have already registered for the Phuket titles and the total is expected to reach 300 this year, Khun Surached said. Phuket will be included for the first time in the Asian Surfing Championship, which means the region's best surfers will be chasing points in Phuket.

The five-nation championship begins on Phuket then moves to Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Korea.

Events on Phuket will include long-board and short-board in several categories, including Masters for the over 35.

Awareness of the contest is likely to be higher on Phuket with the opening of a Surf Hut in Jungceylon, where Phuket surf expert Chatchai ''Man'' Somporn will be offering the latest info on which of Phuket's beaches is delivering the best waves.

Surfers can also register for the Phuket titles at the hut, which shares the opening hours of the Jungceylon centre.

A representative from the Phuket Marine Biological Centre made the point yesterday that surfing is a no-impact water sport and that - unlike other ''beach sport'' activities on Phuket - surfing was ''green'' and healthy.

Surfers tended to clean up beaches and cared about the environment.