For the first time in five years Pipeline will contribute to a surfer’s potential CT qualification as it’s been added to the 2025/26 WSL Challenger Series schedule. The WSL has also announced that Newcastle Surfest, which has currently just kicked off the CS season, will feature again at the end of the campaign.
This year’s CS will now have seven stops, with Pipe and Newcastle being held in January 2026 and March 2026 respectively. It will be the first time since 2022 that a wave on the North Shore has counted for Challenger Series points, and the first time since 2020 that Pipeline has contributed to a surfer’s CT qualification.
“The WSL is super excited to announce that Pipeline and Newcastle will be the last two stops of the Challenger Series this season,” said WSL Senior Tour Manager, Travis Logie. “Pipeline is the ultimate proving ground and one of the most perfect yet challenging waves on the planet. For the next crop of CT surfers to get the opportunity to compete out there is a huge step forward for the Challenger Series, not to mention incredibly exciting for our fans to enjoy two major events at Pipe in just a couple of months. To then finish the season and decide our CT qualifiers at the iconic Newcastle Surfest is amazing. It’s an event with so much surf history, and the whole town gets behind it, so to see our CS surfers realize their dreams in front of thousands of fans at Merewether will be a huge moment.”
The announcement follows on from the extensive changes the WSL is making to next season’s CT which has included scrapping the final five, the mid-year cut and using Pipe, which will now count for 1.5x points, as the final event of the campaign, rather than the opener.
The updated 2025-26 WSL Challenger Series Schedule is as follows:
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
Ericeira, Portugal: September 29 – October 5, 2025
Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: October 11 – 19, 2025
Pipeline, Hawaii, USA: January 28 – February 8, 2026
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia: March 8 – 15, 2026
