It was to be held on August 21 and 22 at Noosa Main Beach in the state of Queensland.

However, much of south-east Queensland including Brisbane is in lockdown until at least Sunday (August 8) due to a COVID-19 outbreak, and much cross-state travel is banned.

"It was with great disappointment that we have had to come to this decision, however we wanted to wait until the latest possible time to make the call because of the fast-changing nature of the situation," said Rowing Australia chief executive Ian Robson. 

"With continued lack of clarity into when border restrictions may ease, we unfortunately had no choice but to cancel the regatta."

Along with Rowing Queensland and Sykes Racing, Rowing Australia looked at postponing the event, but deemed there was no suitable time to move the competition to.

"We are incredibly grateful for the work and support from Rowing Queensland and Sykes Racing as well as the volunteers who have contributed to the planning of this event," added Robson.

"We have been delighted with the excitement and positivity of the community to get this inaugural event up and running and while we know this will clearly be disappointing to so many in the rowing community, we look forward to being back next year with the entire country able to compete."

Rowing Australia and Rowing Queensland are now looking to host the Coastal Rowing and Beach Sprints Championships in Noosa in 2022.

Australia is going through a third wave of COVID-19 infections, recording its highest daily case rates since August 2020 in the past week.

The country has so far recorded 34,610 cases of COVID-19, reporting 925 deaths.

In Queensland there were 15 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Noosa Main Beach is in Queensland but just outside of the area locked down.