The 19-year-old will put a knee injury behind him by competing for a national title at his home beach this week.
St Clair beach will host the national surfing championships, beginning today and running until Saturday.
Brown will compete in the open men’s category today and shapes as Dunedin’s highest profile contender.
A medial cruciate ligament sprain has hampered his build up.
While the injury itself was mild, it had proven a "bad surfing injury".
He has been back on the water for two weeks now and while a bit rusty, he hoped it would be all right.
"It’s quite a lot better now, but I’m just a bit unpractised," Brown said.
"It’s all right, hopefully it goes all good. I’ve got a knee brace just to support me a little bit."
The former King’s High School pupil was excited for the event.
In 2016 he had won the under-18 title, the last time it was held in Dunedin, while also finished third in the open men’s.
He made the semifinals a year later, but last year he had a bad first round.
More recently his form has been good, winning the South Island circuit and gaining a wild card spot for the international Piha Pro event in March.
That was a significant event, one he could not believe he gained entry to.
However, this week’s championship also brought plenty of excitement.
"I’m really looking forward to it.
"A lot of the reason [is] just because it’s in Dunedin.
"It’s real cool to have it down here and be competing at your local, we don’t have too many big events here often, so it’ll be good."
He said a bit of local knowledge could play to his advantage as well.
However, sometimes that could work against a surfer, if a spot that was normally good did not turn it on.
There would be tough competition this week.
That included Billy Stairmand, who has won four of the past five open men’s titles and seven overall.
"I’d still love to win," Brown said.
"But realistically it’s going to be even harder than it already was.
"It’s still no easy feat winning nationals without an injury, there’s a lot of good surfers around.
"So I’ll just see how I go and try to do my best and see if a bit of local luck plays into it."
There will be over 250 entrants across the various categories.
Surfing is expected to run from 8am until 4pm each day.
