Surf Abu Dhabi Longboard Classic 2025 — The KSWC Wave, New Finals Format and a Tour in Flux

Dates: 24–26 October 2025 | Stop No. 3, WSL Longboard Tour

Surf Abu Dhabi returns as one of the most consequential stops on the 2025 WSL Longboard Tour. The combination of Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC) technology and a tweaked Finals format has turned the event into a high-stakes chess match where style, strategy and repeatable perfection matter as much as raw nose-time.

Why Abu Dhabi matters this year

– The event is confirmed as Stop No. 3 on the 2025 WSL Longboard Tour calendar (24–26 Oct). The facility’s KSWC wave delivers long, reproducible 500‑metre faces that favour classic longboard maneuvers sustained noserides, long trims and multiple scoring sections.
– The Department of Culture & Tourism of Abu Dhabi is a confirmed event partner, increasing the event’s profile and the city’s cultural programming around the stop.
– The 2025 Finals format has a confirmed change: seed No. 1 receives a priority advantage, a tweak WSL announced that rewards top seeding and reshapes end‑of‑tour strategy.

The field: new leaders, seasoned kings and the women to watch

• Kai Ellice‑Flint (AUS) arrives with a major win at Huntington Beach 2025 and is one of the form surfers on tour.
• Max Weston (AUS) is riding momentum after a win at Bells Beach 2025 and sits near the top of the rankings.
• Taylor Jensen remains the yardstick in longboarding, a four‑time WSL longboard world champion (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023) whose contest craft and traditional style are still benchmark references.
• Steven Sawyer (RSA) is the 2024 men’s winner at Surf Abu Dhabi and a former world champion (2018).

• Alice Lemoigne (FRA) won the women’s event in 2024 and will be a rider to beat on the KSWC face.
• Among the other decorated names on tour, Soleil Errico is a three‑time longboard world champion Rachael Tilly is a two‑time world champion — both are important figures in the women’s division and alter the competitive landscape whenever they’re on the start list.

For full, up‑to‑date rankings and the official athlete list, consult the WSL Longboard Tour page.

WSL — Surf Abu Dhabi Longboard Classic:
https://www.worldsurfleague.com/athletes/tour/longboard

What the KSWC wave changes for longboarders

The Kelly Slater Wave Company’s engineered face at Surf Abu Dhabi delivers long, reliable walls and sections that can be dialled in heat after heat. That affects longboard competition in clear ways:

• Repeatability: Riders can game multiple approaches to the same sections (nose, trim, cross‑step combos) across heats — a contrast with ocean variability.
• Section count: A 500‑metre face creates multiple scoring opportunities per wave; strategic line choice becomes a scoreboard weapon.
• Training transfer: Surfers who train on long, predictable faces — focusing on nose time and flowing combos — gain a measurable advantage in consistency.

See official facility visuals and behind‑the‑scenes on the wave tech below.

Kelly Slater Wave Co — technology overview (video):

New Finals format: why seed #1 now matters more

WSL confirmed a modification to the Finals format for 2025 that gives an in‑heat priority advantage to the No. 1 seed. The practical implications:

– Tour strategy: Securing top seed heading into Finals is now tactically more valuable — riders will chase heat wins and high placings earlier in the season to lock that edge.
– Heat management: The priority advantage should reduce variance in single‑heat Finals, favouring surfers who can earn and keep clean, high‑scoring waves.

Expect changes in how athletes pace themselves through the tour calendar, especially with Abu Dhabi’s reproducible waves offering targeted point hauls.

The qualification picture: El Salvador and the Top 8 battle

The Surf City El Salvador Longboard Championships window (5–9 November 2025) is the next confirmed stop where the Top 8 qualification picture will sharpen. With only a few stops left after Abu Dhabi, positions — especially places 3–10 — are likely to be hotly contested. Every heat in Abu Dhabi will carry qualification significance.

Surf City El Salvador Longboard Championships — window:
5–9 November 2025 (confirmed)