By Lincoln Feast
(Reuters) – Fiji’s Cloudbreak has been added to surfing’s professional world tour for 2024, with the sport’s governing body keeping its controversial mid-year cut and again holding its Finals contest in the soft waves of Southern California.
Surf fans welcomed the return of Cloudbreak – a remote and powerful tropical reef break – after a seven-year absence but the scrapping of the long-running contest at the reeling point break of Jeffreys Bay in South Africa disappointed many.
Also cut from the tour was the wave pool event held at the Surf Ranch, 100 miles (161 km) from the coast in California cow country.
“I’m stoked that we’re bringing Fiji back,” Jessi Miley-Dyer, Chief of Sport for the governing World Surf League (WSL), said in a statement.
“It’s such an iconic wave, and it’s the perfect place to test our surfers as they battle to secure their place in the WSL Final 5.”
Miley-Dyer told surf website Stab that J-Bay and the Surf Ranch were cut to accommodate the 2024 Olympics, with the surfing competition being held at the fierce reef pass of Teahupo’o in Tahiti.
For the third year running, the WSL will hold its one-day, winner-take-all Final 5 contest at the high-performance but low risk cobblestone peak of Lower Trestles near San Clemente.
The world title used to be decided by points accumulated throughout the tour, which traditionally finished at surfing’s birthplace in the powerful waves of Hawaii.
Both the new format and location for deciding world champions have faced criticism from some fans and surfers.
“Trestles has been a really fair playing field for the surfers,” Miley-Dyer told Stab. “Being able to give the athletes a chance for reliable competition in a great spot is the biggest thing for us, and that’s why it’s still there.”
Also remaining is the mid-year cut, which will see the men’s field reduced to 24 from 36 and the women’s field to 12 from 18 after the Margaret River Pro in Western Australia.
The cut prompted protests from some top surfers when it was introduced in 2022.
2024 WSL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR SCHEDULE
Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii, USA: Jan. 29 – Feb. 10
Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA: Feb. 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
Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia: May 22-31
Punta Roca, El Salvador: June 6-15
Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: June 22-30
Paris 2024 Olympics, Teahupo’o, Tahiti July 27 – Aug. 5
Cloudbreak, Fiji: Aug. 20-29
WSL Final 5 Lower Trestles, San Clemente, California, Sept. 6-14
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Sydney; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
