(Reuters) – The world’s biggest artificial wave in Abu Dhabi has been added to surfing’s 11-stop world tour for 2025, the World Surf League said on Thursday, with Fiji confirmed to host the one-day finals event to crown world champions at the tour’s conclusion.
The tour will again start at Hawaii’s dangerous Banzai Pipeline in late January, before heading to the Surf Abu Dhabi wave pool in the United Arab Emirates for the first time.
The 75,000-square metre pool uses the same technology as California’s Surf Ranch, developed with 11-time world champion Kelly Slater, which has hosted several world tour surfing events to mixed reviews.
“We’ve built this schedule to include more events and feature a variety of breaks,” said Ryan Crosby, WSL CEO.
“We’ve brought back some of the tour’s most desirable locations, while aligning dates with favourable swell windows, to open up more opportunity for quality surf.
“We’ll see a great mix of locations from heavy-water barrels, to high-performance waves, and pristine point breaks.”
Back on the schedule are the reeling right-hand point breaks of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa, which was skipped to accommodate the Olympics last year, and Snapper Rocks in Australia, which returns to the championship tour after a five-year hiatus.
The tour’s controversial mid-season cut, which reduces both the men’s and women’s fields by one-third, remains in place after stop number 7 at Margaret River in Western Australia.
The final event will be held at the Paris 2024 Olympics venue of Teahupo’o in Tahiti, with the five top-ranked men and women after the regular season qualifying for the one-day finals event in Fiji.
The change in venue to the heaving barrels and long walls of Fiji’s Cloudbreak reef for the finals was widely praised by surfers and fans after championships were decided for the past four years at the fun but soft waves of Lower Trestles in California.
2025 WSL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR SCHEDULE
Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii, USA: Jan 27 – Feb 8
Surf Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Feb 14 – 16
Peniche, Portugal: March 15 – 25
Punta Roca, El Salvador: April 2 – 12
Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia: April 18 – 28
Snapper Rocks, Queensland, Australia: May 3 – 13
Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia: May 17 – 27 (Mid-season cut)
Lower Trestles, San Clemente, California, USA: June 9 – 17
Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: June 21 – 29
Jeffreys Bay, South Africa: July 11 – 20
Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia: Aug 7 – 16
WSL Finals – Cloudbreak, Fiji: August 27 – September 4
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)
