The 2018 New Era Rookie Class stands in sharp contrast to the 2017 crew, which featured an eclectic mix of global talent, including the European next wave. Next year's list has a more traditional look, albeit it's dominated by five Brazilians (and two of those surfers have been grinding it out on the Qualifying Series for a number of years). A pair of Californians from San Clemente jump on board (bringing the bear flag state's CT total to five), while Australia adds just one new face next year. Of the eight new faces on next year's Championship Tour, seven are New Era Rookies.
Griffin Colapinto - WSL / Damien Poullenot
Who's In
Griffin Colapinto
Jesse Mendes
Wade Carmichael
Tomas Hermes
Yago Dora
Willian Cardoso
Michael Rodrigues
Pat Gudauskas
Michael Rodrigues - WSL / WSL/POULLENOT
Who's Out
Due in large part to the retirement of two long-time Tour veterans, Australia loses five surfers from the CT next year. Unfortunately for the Brazilian contingent, they'll lose four of their most popular surfers on Tour. California and Italy both lose a single representative.
Jadson Andre
Wiggolly Dantas
Bede Durbidge
Ethan Ewing
Leonardo Fioravanti
Ian Gouveia
Josh Kerr
Jack Freestone
Stu Kennedy
Miguel Pupo
Nat Young
Bede Durbidge and Josh Kerr - WSL / Steve Sherman
2018 Championship Tour: Who's In, Who's Out
Brad Drew
The 2018 New Era Rookie Class stands in sharp contrast to the 2017 crew, which featured an eclectic mix of global talent, including the European next wave. Next year's list has a more traditional look, albeit it's dominated by five Brazilians (and two of those surfers have been grinding it out on the Qualifying Series for a number of years). A pair of Californians from San Clemente jump on board (bringing the bear flag state's CT total to five), while Australia adds just one new face next year. Of the eight new faces on next year's Championship Tour, seven are New Era Rookies.
Who's In
Griffin Colapinto
Jesse Mendes
Wade Carmichael
Tomas Hermes
Yago Dora
Willian Cardoso
Michael Rodrigues
Pat Gudauskas
Who's Out
Due in large part to the retirement of two long-time Tour veterans, Australia loses five surfers from the CT next year. Unfortunately for the Brazilian contingent, they'll lose four of their most popular surfers on Tour. California and Italy both lose a single representative.
Jadson Andre
Wiggolly Dantas
Bede Durbidge
Ethan Ewing
Leonardo Fioravanti
Ian Gouveia
Josh Kerr
Jack Freestone
Stu Kennedy
Miguel Pupo
Nat Young
Keanu Asing
An iconic event concluded with Keanu Asing and Keala Tomoda-Bannert victorious over Hawaii/Tahiti Nui's top contenders at the legendary
South Shore's own Keanu Asing brought out his world-class backhand attack to post a near-perfect 9.00 and 17.17 heat total in the Final.
Qualifying Series and Longboard Regional Qualifying Series Competitors Await First Call, Reigning Regional Champion Bunch, 2022/23 No. 2
The former Championship Tour competitor Keanu Asing is back at Ala Moana Bowls on CT-event winning backhand alongside a stacked field to
Men's Semifinalists and Women's Quarters locked in for Finals Day.
Billabong Pipe Masters
In 2017, Owen Wright returned to Pipeline -- the scene of a serious injury which had threatened to derail his surfing career.
The Tour comes down to the North Shore of Oahu, and the world's most challenging wave.