The WSL just announced that the 2025 finals will be held in Fiji’s most famous left-hander. The move will give surfers who perform in waves of consequence more to work with and test the world’s best on one of the world’s best waves.
So far, the WSL has not announced the exact dates or schedule for the 2025 season. However, surf fans can expect a mixture of performance venues and heavy tubes which require surfers to, as Kelly Slater put it, ‘just go straight’.
According to the WSL CEO Ryan Crosby in a press release, “Cloudbreak is truly one of the best waves in the world, and hosting the Finals at such an iconic break is going to be incredible.” 2024 marks the first time the famous left-handed reef break had a spot on the championship tour since 2017.
Cloudbreak and the WSL Finals are the Perfect Match
Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California, is an exciting place to hold the final five showdown. It gave high-flying progressive surfers such as Felipe Toledo a tremendous advantage.
By moving the final five showdown to the shallow reefs of Fiji’s iconic break, it broadens the playing field. Surfers will need two excellent waves and the judges will focus on the barrels more than anything.
Cloudbreak is a submerged reef pass that sits three miles off the coast of Namotu Island and around five miles from Fiji’s main island Viti Levu. The wave was first surfed in the late ‘70s after word got out from Californian yachtsman John Ritter.
The wave at Cloudbreak is formed by deep ocean south swells that hit the shallow reef pass. The energy is intense and breaks along three main sections: the peak, middles, and finally shish-kebabs.