One step forward, two steps back. The WSL never fails.
Just as I was starting to think I may like this new CEO, Ryan Crosby. Well, it’s time for some Q and A.
The Challenger Series schedule came out for next year/season, as well as the Longboard schedule. We’ll start with the loggers, since it’s a bit less confusing.
2026/2027 WSL Longboard Tour Schedule:
Stop 1 – Huntington Beach Longboard Classic; July 25th – 29th, 2026
Stop 2 – Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic; November 25th – 29th, 2026
Stop 3 – La Union Longboard Classic; January 20th – 24th, 2027
Stop 4 – Surf City El Salvador Longboard Championships; March 13th – 21st
This will be my first year truly tuning in for the Longboard Tour, so I’ve got a bit to learn. For example, I was wondering if there is a tiered system to getting on Tour for the Longboarders, similar to the Championship Tour. What I found out is that there is an ‘LQS’ – presumably the Longboard Qualifying Series. I saw only one single event in the North American region last year. As of now, it looks like there are more events on the schedule for the rest of ‘26, but a lot of them are listed as tentative. There is one coming up set to start on the 19th – Noosa Longboard Pro. I plan to watch this.
Before we move on to the Challenger Series schedule, I did want to make note – it seems as though the Longboarders may have also experienced the wrath of Finals Day. I wasn’t aware. On the WSL’s post about the schedule, mention is made of this year having changes. The first 3 events will feature 24 Men and 24 Women, competing for 10,000 points (if you win), respectively. The fourth and Final event will halve the field to 12 Men and 12 Women, with 15,000 points on the line, eventually determining the World Longboard Champions.
Can’t wait.
Now, onto the CS.
2026/27 Challenger Series Schedule:
Stop 1 – Ballito, South Africa; July 12th – 18th, 2026
Stop 2 – Huntington Beach, CA; July 27th – Aug. 2nd, 2026
Stop 3 – Sao Sebastiao, Brazil; Sept. 26th – Oct. 3rd, 2026
Stop 4 – Ericeira, Portugal; Oct. 6th – 12th, 2026
Stop 5 – Newcastle, NSW Australia; March 1st – 7th, 2027
The big fuss is that Pipeline, that epic event we talked about, already got cut from the Challenger Series after one swing of the bat. And I totally hear that – super lame. I have heard murmurs that more events are in the works, maybe just yet to be solidified. Also announced on the same day is a new category, the QS 6,000 International(s). Per the WSL, “Top seeds from each region will receive entry and will be held in premier locations worldwide. Competitors will be able to have their earned points count toward their CS ranking and their regional QS ranking.” So it counts for one or the other, or both? It didn’t seem clear to me – you?
2026/27 QS INTL event schedule:
Stop 1 – Saquarema, Brazil; September 14th – 20th, 2026
Stop 2 – Cloud 9, Siargao, Philippines; October 16th – 25th, 2026
Stop 3 – Jinzun Harbor, Taiwan; November 14th – 22nd, 2026
Here is what I found that is going to be interesting. There is no more Mid Year Cut on Tour. That means come year (season) end, 10 Men and 7 Women will fall off Tour, and the new crop of Challenger Series qualifiers will arrive. Does this mean if we get to event 7 on the Championship Tour and CT guys are low in the rankings, they are going to start showing up to every CS event to try and qualify early – before even falling off? Are CT surfers allowed to surf in the Challenger Series all year long, to back themselves up just in case? I don’t see how they would stop it. And just so you know, I am opposed to it. Meaning, I dont think it’s fair that CT surfers move down a tier and take away points from surfers trying to qualify or graduate up. I dont like that.
We’ll have to look deeper into the schedule and how everything fits on the calendar. Do any events overlap? Obviously this Challenger Series will have to be wrapped up by the start of the 2027 Championship Tour, so we know that won’t start until after March of 2027. I know we didn’t like Pipeline at the start of the year, but I also don’t know how big a fan I am that they have pushed the start of the season back so late in the year.
What’s with the QS 6,000 International? Is this just basically an open field event? QS up to CT surfers invited? The field is said to be set at 144 Men and 80 Women. That is insane. The higher ranked surfers surely have to be automatically seeded pretty deep into the event. Curious to see how these things work out. Is it going to be 6 Men (or Women) per heat? Is it going to be a week-long event? I’m excited to see Tyler Gunter surf against Seth Moniz in 2-3 foot wind blown Taiwan – how about you? I will make the assumption that if a Pipeline event were to be added to a lower tiered schedule, it will fall under a QS 6000 INTL. The locals want as many people in the field as possible, and this seems to be the route to making that happen.
Anyways, this is all just Mud In The Water. It seems like this is a minor push towards a 1 World Ranking System, top to bottom. Like I said, it will be interesting to see how these 6000 events play out where we could see CT surfers battling against QS surfers. Originally with the inception of the Challenger Series, I thought they were laying a clear path forward to the Championship Tour. This has been a step backwards, in my opinion of course. I’m not going to say I am completely out on a single world ranking system; I have always been a proponent of having more surfers on Tour rather than less. It just seems to be getting messy at this point, to me.
As always, we will see what happens in time. It’s still early. So early, in fact, we are about to start prepping for the start of the Championship Tour year. Bells Beach is right around the corner with the event window set to open April 1st. A prediction / preview piece is in the works, but before that we have to get to our Challenger Series qualifiers. Big News on that front coming soon. Stay tuned.
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield