"With the updated formats, we’ll see higher stakes from day one, with every heat carrying real consequence throughout the season."

The 2025 World Surf League Championship Tour is not yet over. Teahupo’o is the only event remaining before the “Final Five” head to Fiji to battle for the crown. Exciting days ahead for all, save Filipe Toledo, surf fans licking chops in anticipation. The World Surf League, though, added even more excitement with a delicious hors d’oeuvres. The official ’26 CT schedule.

Per the presser:

Today, the World Surf League (WSL) released the schedule for the 2026 Championship Tour (CT) and shared the new event formats. Marking the 50th year of professional surfing, the combined men’s and women’s calendar, which includes an increased women’s field, will feature 12 events in total. Nine regular-season stops and two postseason events will culminate in a revitalized Pipe Masters that will close the season with a high-stakes, all-inclusive finale.

“These changes reflect our commitment to honoring surfing’s legacy while continuing to shape its future as the sport enters its 50th year,” said Ryan Crosby, WSL CEO. “With the updated formats, we’ll see higher stakes from day one, with every heat carrying real consequence throughout the season. Combined with iconic locations, the expanded women’s field, and Pipeline as the pinnacle, we’re building a Tour that better serves our athletes and fans, and leads the sport into its next chapter.”

2026 Championship Tour Schedule

Stop No. 1 – Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia: April 1 – 11
Stop No. 2 – Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia: April 17 – 27
Stop No. 3 – Snapper Rocks, Queensland, Australia: May 2 – 12
Stop No. 4 – Punta Roca, El Salvador: May 28 – June 7
Stop No. 5 – Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: June 12 – 20
Stop No. 6 – Jeffreys Bay, South Africa: July 10 – 20
Stop No. 7 – Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia: August 8 – 18
Stop No. 8 – Cloudbreak, Fiji: August 25 – September 4
Stop No. 9 – Lower Trestles, San Clemente, Calif., USA: September 11 – 20*
Stop No. 10 – Surf Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE: October 14 – 18**
Stop No. 11 – Peniche, Portugal: October 22 – November 1
Stop No. 12 – Banzai Pipeline, Hawaiʻi, USA: December 8 – 20***

*Last regular-season event
**Start of postseason, reduced field
**Full CT fields rejoin postseason surfers to compete for Pipe Masters Titles

Thoughts?

He's number 1!

Surf fans around the world are standing, as one, and applauding as the much-beloved World Surf League broadcaster Joe Turpel claimed a Sports Emmy Award from the National Academy Television Arts and Sciences. The 46th running of the event was held, in person, at the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City on May 20th.

Surf fans have, of course, long swooned to Turpel’s velvety pipes as he calls most of the World Surf League Championship Series events alongside the likes of Jesse Mendes, Mitch Saladbar, Molly Picklum, Ronald Blakey, Strider Wasilewski, Rosy Hodge and others.

Non-surf fans got a sampling of the brunette’s wit and charm as part of this past summer’s Paris Games wherein Turpel called the surf action from Tahiti.

The “Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (NBC / Peacock)” were the big Emmy winners, taking home 10 wins in total, including: Outstanding Live Sports Special – Championship Event, Outstanding Open/Tease and Outstanding Interactive Experience among others.

Turpel’s golden statuette reads, “2024-2025 Sports Emmy Awards Outstanding Live Special – Championship. Games of the XXXIII Olympiad NBC-Peacock Joe Turpel Play-by-Play.”

I was very pleased that Turpel beat all-comers over all sports, a win for surfing, but double checked the Sports Emmy winning list and discovered Joe Davis, from Fox, won “Outstanding Personality/ Play-by-Play” for his baseball calls.

I further learned that NBC hired over 150 play-by-play commentators for the ’24 Games.

Still, 1 of 150 ain’t bad and do you have a Sports Emmy?

Then shut up.

United Nations climate summit turning into a disaster for surfers.

Surfing’s novelty wave boom shows zero signs of slowing down. Once confined to the ocean, and its swells, forward-thinking pioneers like Ben Gravy decided, like Jeep, that the world could be surfed and brought the Sport of Kings to wakes, ripples, rivers and lakes around the globe.

One of the most inspirational novelty waves is the fabled tidal bore. In surf-mad Brazil, these are called Pororoca waves and occur at the convergence point of fresh water from the Amazon River and the saltwater of the Atlantic Ocean mostly around the northern city of Belem.

Yes, novelty wavers come from near and far to experience but this year are being forced out of traditional accommodations by dastardly environmental activists.

Brazil, you see, is hosting the United Nations climate summit, known as COP30, after three years where the conference of world leaders tackling global warming was held in countries without full freedom for public demonstrations, according to Reuters. “But the so-called “People’s COP” may not be as welcoming as they hoped,” the news service continues.

There are simply not enough hotel rooms in the city leaving a scramble for places for hippies to lay their heads.

One of the solutions?

Turning the “love motels” favored by the Ben Gravy-adjacents into regular hotels. “Love motels that usually rent rooms by the hour are being advertised as options for full national delegations,” Reuters continues. “Yorann Costa, the owner of Motel Secreto, said he can tone down the “more sensual mood” of his establishment by removing erotic chairs. “But the poles, for example, I can’t take out,” he said, adding that the ceiling mirrors would also have to stay.”

Argh.

Now let’s turn our collective attention back to the US Open of Surfing. I think the longboard is back on today.