The WSL announced yesterday that Raglan, one of New Zealand’s premiere lefts, will be added to the 2026 CT schedule, while J-Bay will no longer feature on this year’s tour.
The announcement comes after the rumour mill had been circulating regarding to J-Bay’s potential absence from the 2026 Tour due to the costs of running the event.
“We love J-Bay and the community there, and we’re really grateful to them for welcoming us for so many years,” said WSL Chief Executive Ryan Crosby. “It’s undoubtedly one of the best waves in the world, and we will continue to explore ways to return in the future. That said, we have made the difficult decision to pull Jeffreys Bay from the 2026 CT calendar. We did our very best to make J-Bay work in 202,5, but the financial support isn’t there to make it viable this year.
“Our goal is to set professional surfing up for long-term success and make sure the world’s best surfers have the platform to keep advancing the sport for many years, Achieving this goal requires making decisions that prioritize the health of the overall business.”
It’s replacement, The New Zealand Pro at Manu Bay, will be stop number four, slotted right after the Australia leg, with a run window of May 15–25.
“I’m very happy with the addition of a rippable left on tour,” said Yago Dora, “It’s been a long time asking to have one on the schedule, and we finally got it.”
New Zealand has a strong track record of hosting elite professional surfing events, including women’s CT stops from 2010 to 2013 at Taranaki, which then transitioned to a QS event, a men’s QS event at Raglan in 1995 and the Rip Curl Pro Raglan, part of the New Zealand Surf Series, which ran for more than two decades. The 2026 ‘Backdoor King and Queen of the Point’ event staged by Surfing New Zealand in early May will serve as the official trials for the event. The best performing man and woman will receive the SNZ wildcards into the CT event.
Here’s how the schedule now looks for this year’s CT:
Here is the calendar for the 2026 WSL Championship Tour:
Stop No. 1 – Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia: April 1 – 11
Stop No. 2 – Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia: April 16 – 26
Stop No. 3 – Snapper Rocks, Queensland, Australia: May 1 – 11
Stop No. 4 – Raglan, New Zealand: May 15 – 25
Stop No. 5 – Punta Roca, El Salvador: June 5 – 15
Stop No. 6 – Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: June 19 – 27
Stop No. 7 – Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia: August 8 – 18
Stop No. 8 – Cloudbreak, Fiji: August 25 – September 4
Stop No. 9 – Lower Trestles, San Clemente, Calif., USA: September 11 – 20
Stop No. 10 – Surf Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE: October 14 – 18
Stop No. 11 – Peniche, Portugal: October 22 – November 1
Stop No. 12 – Banzai Pipeline, Hawaiʻi, USA: December 8 – 20
