The WSL Just Gave The Kids A Steak Knife
The Challenger Series gets a run at Pipeline, and a double-take at Newcastle.
You could almost hear Travis Logie’s serotonin spike as he proof read the WSL’s EDM this morning.
“We are super excited to announce that Pipeline and Newcastle will be the last two stops of the Challenger Series this season.”
It’s a clean, elegant statement. It also casually folds in the biggest shift to the CS in recent memory: the addition of the most dangerous and prestigious wave on the planet.
In short: 2026 qualification stories now run through the Banzai reef.
After a decade of treating the Challenger Series like a mildly supervised kindergarten—Huntington, Ericeira, Ballito, all the usual sand-bottomed, brand-safe suspects—the WSL has finally handed the kids a steak knife and said, go on then.
Scheduling Pipeline as the penultimate CS event is a bold move. Almost romantic. Certainly violent.
Finn McGill, a former Triple Crown winner and the second youngest ever male to win the Pipe Trials was delighted by the update.
“Yeah it’s fine by me,” he laughed. “I’ll be at home anyway. For me it makes so much sense to have a world class reef break that is also on the CT as part of the CS. It feels like there’s been certain surfers, and I won’t name any names, who would’ve been filtered out by a few heavy water breaks in the past.”
He continues, “The other thing I’ll add is that for us Hawaiians, there literally isn’t a single beach break we surf on a regular basis. So having to surf a full year at beach breaks is out of the ordinary and a very different type of surfing than we’re used to.”
Currently parked down at Merewether, waiting for his first 4-manner of the CS season, McGill mentioned he got a noticeably warmer reception than he is used to at a foreign contest. “It’s funny, I feel like everyone’s being nicer to me now. They’ve probably realized they’ll be wanting a spot on my couch come January.”
The lack of meat on the calendar was also one of Pipe Master Julian Wilson’s chief critiques, after being awarded a season-long wildcard:
“The Challenger schedule doesn’t complement the CT schedule in any way,” Wilson said. “You qualify surfing average beach breaks, and then get thrown into Pipeline, Cloudbreak, Tahiti. There’s a gap. A big one, between the kinds of surfers who will excel in those kinds of waves.”
Now, the WSL seems to agree. And they’ve done something about it.
It trails a series of smart decisions at the CT level: axing the Final Five, the mid-year cut, and the dreaded non-elimination round (may they never return) — marking a deliberate return to surfing’s halcyon era.
But the mere promise of salvation has also coincided with real runs on the board. Burleigh was a triumph. Jordy in yellow feels poetic.
Did someone crush a fistful of ecstasy into the sangria? Competitive surfing is back.
Pipeline is not an easy yes. Politically, culturally, logistically—this is sacred and sensitive ground. Local surfers don’t love the idea of 120 international hopefuls trampling through their backyard during one of the best months of the year. Permits aren’t handed out. They’re hard-won.
But to the WSL’s credit, they’ve threaded the needle. And more importantly, they’ve given the CS something it desperately lacked: legitimacy.
Because if you want to surf against John, Ewing, Medina, and Simmers — you should probably have to make a drop at Pipe.
It’s not just optics. It’s filtration.
And let’s be honest: Pipe has been handing out CT-sized consequences for years. Joao Chianca, Kala Grace, Makua Rothman, Billy Kemper, Koa Rothman, Kai Lenny, Mason Ho, Nathan Florence, Joaquin Del Castillo, and Eimeo Czermak have all paid in flesh.
The WSL knows this. They’ve seen the injury reports. They’ve watched the stretchers. And still—they’ve greenlit it.
Because that’s what it takes to make the Challenger Series feel real. Not like a consolation bracket. Not like a second-tier slog through leftover conditions. But like a genuine crucible.
Another interesting note: there’s a three-month break leading into Pipe, and a one-month break after. Which means—if the WSL wanted to—they could very easily tuck in some Triple Crown-y venues around it. Sunset. Haleiwa.
“They have a set permit for Haleiwa in November, and now the Hurley Sunset event isn’t running so they could potentially take that slot in January. That way you could run a full Triple Crown in Hawaii – with Pipe coming after the Volcom Pipe Pro… We’ll see in due course, I guess,” said Finn.
Whether that’s by design or just a delicious coincidence remains to be seen. But the space is there. And so is the opportunity.
2025–26 WSL Challenger Series Schedule:
- Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia: June 2 – 8, 2025
- Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: June 30 – July 6, 2025
- Huntington Beach, California, USA: July 29 – August 3, 2025 (US Open Festival: July 26 – August 3)
- Ericeira, Portugal: September 29 – October 5, 2025
- Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: October 11 – 19, 2025
- Pipeline, Hawai‘i, USA: January 28 – February 8, 2026
- Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia: March 8 – 15, 2026
What we know for sure: Seven events. Five count. And now, one of those is Pipeline.
Respect where it’s due. This one’s a masterstroke.
