She’s back. Photo: Sloane//WSL
Well, the big beautiful Fijian gem is back on the Championship Tour. Today, in a detailed release, the World Surf League announced that Cloudbreak, the booming left-hander, will be back as part of the CT August 20 – 29, following a brief break for the Olympics.
Also in semi-surprising news, Jeffreys Bay has been axed from the tour schedule. In an editorial on the South African-based website, Wavescape, the editors acknowledged the reason given by heads for the cancellation – it clashed with the Olympics. But they also addressed other possible reasons.
“This (Olympic conflict) may seem quite plausible. The Olympic dates are conveniently near the dates when J-Bay would run, but unfortunately, as always in this schizoid land of ours, it comes down to a lack of financial support and political understanding of how important such global events are, with corporates not far away from similar lethargy.”
Pipeline still opens the season, followed by Sunset, Portugal, Bells, and Margaret River, after which the mid-year cut will again loom large. Tahiti, El Salvador, and Brazil will follow before the aforementioned Olympic break July 26-August 11.
According to the release, the Final Five will once again be held at Trestles September 6-11, despite many hoping the Final might be tweaked or even moved to Pipeline, as John John Florence told me last month.
Overall, I don’t mind this reschedule. South Africa, despite being an absolute classic venue, has to be a difficult event to run given the time change. And the tour needs another good left. Not to mention the storied history of Cloudbreak events. It’ll be interesting to see the reaction to the Final Five event and its location remaining the same.
2024 WSL Championship Tour Schedule:
-Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii, USA: January 29 – February 10
-Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA: February 12 – 23
-Peniche, Portugal: March 6 – 16
-Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia: March 26 – April 5
-Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia: April 11 – 21
Mid-season Cut: 36-man and 18-woman fields reduced to 24-man and 12-woman fields.
-Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia: May 22 – 31
-Punta Roca, El Salvador: June 6 – 15
-Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: June 22 – 30
2024 Paris Olympic Games: July 26 – August 11 (Surfing scheduled between July 27 – August 5)
-Cloudbreak, Fiji: August 20 – 29
-WSL Finals (Lower Trestles, San Clemente, Calif., USA): September 6 – 14
