Junior development officer for 2014-15 Adam Howarth and his team of tireless workers provide a relaxed, family fun environment in which members can develop their skills.

"Our numbers are up 20 per cent on last season, a result of the good efforts by my predecessor Col Butters," Howarth said.

"We recently sent six nippers to the under-14 youth development camp, including Birubi's two nominees for the Hunter branch junior surf lifesaver of the year awards, Ryan Wozniak and Jade Abernathy.

"The winners will be announced at the branch championships to be held at Caves Beach on February 7 and 8.

"We also had five representatives at the recent Fingal carnival.

"They competed strongly in 19 individual events with Eve [Crowe] finishing sixth in the long swim and Chantel [Giepmans] fourth in the sprints."

Club secretary Helen Ratcliffe said the entire Port community, not just surfing club members, was benefiting from the surf club development.

"It has been a lot of hard work, ironing out first year bugs in the system, but both the surfing and tourism communities are now enjoying the fruits of their labour," she said.

"The beach has been busier this season compared to previous summers and there have been quite a large number of rescues since club lifesavers began patrolling."

Ratcliffe said the club would be focusing on improving its education and awareness programs with tourists, particularly those with English language difficulties.

"We are looking at ways of improving [this] through education and engagement."