Huntington Beach, California will kick off the tour. Photo: Kenny Morris//World Surf League
Surf fans rejoiced last July when the World Surf League announced it was scrapping the Final Five WSL Finals and mid-year cut format for the 2026 season. It’s tough to know whether the mid-year cut or deciding a world champion through a single elevated event was hated more, but either way, both are gone now. What was less talked about in the past few years is that the League’s Longboard Tour was deciding its world titles in a similar fashion following a much shorter season schedule. On Tuesday, the WSL announced the Longboard Tour will also return to crowning its world title in 2026 with a cumulative points total.
The League’s Tuesday press release confirmed the format change along with its updated 2026 four-stop schedule. The notable change on this year’s itinerary is that the Surf Abu Dhabi Longboard Classic is out, and in its place is a visit to Monaliza Point in La Union, the Philippines. The La Union Longboard Classic will take place in January 2027 — the tour’s third stop before crowning a world champion at the Surf City El Salvador Longboard Championships in March 2027.
The full schedule:
- Huntington Beach Longboard Classic (Huntington Beach, Calif., USA): July 25 – 29, 2026
- Bioglan Bells Beach Longboard Classic (Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia): November 25 – 29, 2026
- La Union Longboard Classic (Urbiztondo Beach, La Union, Philippines): January 20 – 24, 2027
- Surf City El Salvador Longboard Championships (El Sunzal, El Salvador): March 13 – 21, 2027
The first three stops will award 10,000 points to each event winner of the 24-surfer field. Similar to the CT’s shift to a post-season-esque points structure, the final event in Surf City, El Salvador, will host the top 12 men and 12 women, and offer 15,000 rankings points.
“The WSL Longboard Tour continues to build incredible momentum,” said Will Hayden-Smith, WSL Longboard Tour Director. “We saw some of the best longboarding ever last season, and that level keeps rising. In 2026, we’re taking the Tour to a new and exciting location and introducing a new format. It’s a reflection of how strong the global longboard community has become, the Tour is genuinely going from strength to strength, and we’re excited to see the athletes push it even further this year.”
