Rise and grind.
Surf fans near and far woke up flabbergasted, this morning, properly wowed one and all. The World Surf League had delivered its Challenger Series schedule, overnight, and while expectations remain generally low, the itinerary was wildly tedious with some pundits describing it as “historically dull.”
Surfers with Championship Tour dreams will begin the journey in Newcastle, Australia this June before flying to Ballito, Huntington Beach, Ericeira then ending at Saquarema middle October.
There will be 80 men and 48 men on what some pundits are calling “the tedious tour.” 10 men and 7 women will be invited into the bigs at conclusion.
Travis Logie, WSL Senior Tour Manager, Challenger Series, attempted to put lipstick on a sloth, declared, “As we head into the 2025 Challenger Series season, the WSL is excited for new changes, including the increase in women’s qualifiers to the CT. We look forward to kicking the season off at the iconic Surfest Newcastle, and to see who will earn their spot in 2026.”
The 2025 Longboard Tour was announced at the same time with our cross-stepping brothers and sisters beginning in Huntington before going to Bells, Abu Dhabi and El Salvador.
No word, as of yet, from Tyler Wright on any of that.
If you had to participate in one of the two, would you Challenger or Longboard?
In case you forgot, “The World Surf League (WSL) is the global home of competitive surfing, crowning World Champions since 1976 and showcasing the world’s best surfing. The WSL oversees surfing’s global competitive landscape and sets the standard for elite performance in the most dynamic playing field in all of sports. With a firm commitment to its values, the WSL prioritizes the protection of the ocean, equality, and the sport’s rich heritage, while championing progression and innovation.”
Happy holidays.
The Challenging World Tour ,, for part time workers
I know several of the longboarders and they’d all choose “Challenger”, if they could. Basically you work all year so you can afford the “Tour” and if you win the “World Title” you break even. Everyone else goes home in debt and starts over…. If you qualify….¡yaaaayyyyyyy!….
I’m feeling rather challenged at the mo. Perhaps I should rock up on the day and claim a jersey.
Get Elon and Musk in there to blow away the corporate waste, over the top infrastructure, personalised locker rooms and caviar for the vips.
More $$ for better stops.
Govt is walking away….quickly.
DOPSE.
bring back ELO.
The WSL’s answer to their Carbon Offset efforts…
LAX -> Newcastle = 11,976 km
Newcastle -> Ballito = 10,667 km
Ballito -> Huntington = 17,075 km
Huntington -> Ericiera = 9,098 km
Ericiera -> Saquarema = 7,695 km
“I’m on a highway to hell / highway to hell / highway to hell.” –Sam George
The 25’ Tour is the deal breaker for me. Loved and followed pro surfing since 78’.
I thought getting rid of Elo meant good times ahead. Wrong
One WSL pro tour event in Hawaii. Wow.
No word on a seniors tour for Kelly?
Increase the number of women, reduce the number of comps and keep the comps is shit waves in the farthest flung corners of the planet.
WSL doing a great job “prioritizing the protection of the ocean, equality, and the sport’s rich heritage, while championing progression and innovation.”
It’s ELOgical
Considering the economics of pro surfing, it’s good enough that it exists (especially in such an inflationary climate), for those who are interested. It’s not supposed to large or important.
To expect anything more than an ultra-niche, somewhat-localised scene is unrealistic.
The days of non-stop growth of clothing brands to artificially pump money into the scene is, thankfully, over and once we get a 10-12 event tour in as good waves as possible then that’s all the supporters can ask for. I’d kinda like to know how much money, if any, the tour lost this year. I personally feel that the top prizes are higher than necessary. No need to pay these people this much (but I may be wrong about that).
The qualifying series does not need to be interesting for anyone but the competitors and their sponsors.
what ever , ill be to buys making boards that work for me , to bother with that drivel.
If surfing ever wanted to be a pro sport then the WSL have produced something close enough to that. Whatever came before failed to do that spectacularly. Another sea change in the air though. And so it goes.
The nice thing about the schedule is it gives them the first half of year to make some money digging trenches, banging nails, giving surf lessons, washing dishes, ubering. Then they can go and surf these events and at the end of the year come home broke to mom’s basement and start all over.
Maybe Australia will start getting more surfers on tour now that they can’t use their cell phones anymore.
Probably USA kids to with the upcoming TikTok ban😜
Don’t know, don’t care. But to answer your question based on the information you provided (limited and incomplete as usual), everyone is picking the Longboard Tour since it has 4 stops as opposed to the 1 stop Challenger Series.
Ummmm. What?
You expect anything you and DR created, above or below, to make sense…? Shit, Dane’s Sushi and Salsa/Tim Nelsen is hawking a rosetta stone over on Inertia for 10 quid to be used to decipher his comments over here.
I am strictly basing my comments on what is written in the sharticle above. You state that the Challenger starts at Surfest Newcastle but don’t mention any other contest locations. You then state that the LB tour will stop at “Huntington before going to Bells, Abu Dhabi and El Salvador”. As a result of my research that stops and starts with “Surf fans……Happy Holiday”, I am choosing the LB tour since it has more stops than Challenger according to your own words (or at least those you put your name on).
Try to keep up Charles, its too early for drinking on a Friday.
Oops! Looks like you are the boozy one today!
“Surfers with Championship Tour dreams will begin the journey in Newcastle, Australia this June before flying to Ballito, Huntington Beach, Ericeira then ending at Saquarema middle October.”
Nice save, too bad your edits aren’t tracked like ours.
No edit. You just read bad.
How about mixing up Josh and Seth Moniz in the last story? Josh never whinged about the Pipe Masters, Seth did
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
the old screenshotaroony to da rescue,, 🙂
I guess its time to start doing the thing I did to B__ M_____ and screenshot your sharticles before you edit them.
There… he said it fair and Saquarema.
WSL Challenger Series… snoozefest.
I’ll be too busy surfing, building cabinets, or doing yardwork to waste my time thus.
You noticing any problems with rift sawn white oak panels at the moment? Color seems to change from lot to lot, almost impossible to find any that aren’t fucking orange tinted.
You pair sound like you pack your undies with sawdust
Most people call it knowledge of a trade but you do you.
So commenting on BG doesn’t count as a trade?
I haven’t bought white oak for a long time. I’ve heard it’s really popular now in SoCal. Last time I used it was quartersawn 8/4 for entry doors.