It’s been a long 7 month break since the WSL season wrapped up.

Crowing Yago Dora and Molly Picklum as champs in Fiji. There’s a bunch of key changes to the tour this season, notably no mid year cut, an expanded Women’s field and no final 5. The fact that the season starts in Australia and ends on the North Shore at Pipe just feels right. While arguments roll about whether Raglan for J Bay is a good swap, there’s universal excitement at the return of a bunch of real kings and queens of our sport. Alongside them we find a whole bunch of super exciting rookies getting ready to kick things off at Bells Beach. Here’s some of our key focal points.

World Champ legends back in the game?

Gabriel Medina, Stef Gillmore and Carissa Moore are all back which is enough to get most eyeballs tuned in. With a room full of world titles between them and status as greats already established we will get to see really soon whether they have they still got IT! Carissa stepped away to start a family and will be in the athletes area with husband and baby in tow. Stef was seemingly  sailing into the stylish sunset of the world’s finest point breaks the last couple of seasons and has spent a bunch of time on alternative craft. Will she be refreshed and energised with new lines or a little off the high performance mark? 3 time world champ Gabe Medina – a man who’s titles were all won on untameable competitive belief, brute force and incredible generational performance lifting performances. After being on tour since he was a kid he’s had some personal issues and injuries leading to a bit of a break but is now back. Does he still have it or have the Yago’s, Griffins and Leo’s caught up?

Rookies

The Women’s Euroforce is here! All 5 rookies on the women’s tour came from the European tour. That in itself represents its own story. The youngest qualifier Tya Zebrowski (she’s just turned 15!) and oldest Yolanda Hopkins likely represent the best bets for success. Tya represents the pinnacle of new age female surfing with all the air and rail game power sitting alongside her unflappable attitude. Untested at this level there’s a lot of attention on this young girl who has qualified with ease. Yolanda on the other hand has had a harder route to the top coming close to qualifying several times but with some success against the top women with a number of wildcard appearances in her native Portugal. Yolanda’s bottom turns and rail work is her trademark, along with her smile and this very popular surfer and her British coach John Tranter will be a fresh addition to the tour.

Of the mens qualifiers our eyes are drawn to Olympic gold medalist Frenchman Kauli Vaast from Tahiti. Known for his top drawer tech in big and hollow waves, Kauli also has an incredible record and skill set in more ‘normal’ waves and fully expect his winning attitude and experience to see him come in as a contender at Bells straight away.

Brazilian Mateus Herdy has been lighting up air shows and video edits for years alongside coming close to the top tour. One of the worlds most exciting surfers we finally get to see how this freakishly talented Brazilian will do with a full season in the big leagues. Bells is not the sort of wave you might associate with Matteus but expect to see fresh lines and airs at any opportunity.

Ramzi gets his chance

Ramzi Boukhaim is back for a full year on tour after receiving the season long wildcard due to John John Florence’s continued absence. For Ramzi this represents a chance to bed some bad demons and memories from Bells and really get his elite career in motion. It was at the 2025 event here where he suffered a freak leg break in the shorebreak coming in form a heat. A lengthy, serious  rehab ensued and finally the goofy footer gets the chance his surfing deserves. There’s no better place for Ramzi to start his campaign then a righthand point for the rocking Moroccan.

Isreal has a voice at the top table

Anat Lelior is a popular and powerful goofy footer that has come through the European system as part of a strong Isreali presence. A powerful goofy footer with a strong backhand and recent success at Pipeline, Anat is a two time Olympian with a lot of successful campaigns at ISA Worlds. While attention will focus on her surfing there’s no doubt that proudly flying the Israeli flag will gather attention. At last years’s Morocco Pro event Anat was designated as representing ‘World’ for safety reasons and it will be interesting to see what happens at the Abu Dhabi Wave Pool event in the Middle East later in the year. With Israel’s military action in the Middle East over the last couple of years any heat win interviews will certainly open up opportunities for questions and attention that other surfers will not face.

Event Wildcard

Dane Henry represents the future for Australian surfing and is one of event sponsor Rip Curl’s big hopes for the future. A seemingly gapless skill set with a penchant for Backflips, this good friend and sparring partner of Lukas Skinner while be aiming to show he’s is not here to get some warm up repps in but is a challenger ready here and now. Few will be surprised to see him pound through the field at Bells

 

The Forecast

Swell size, direction, wind and the tide all make a huge difference to the waves you’ll be surfing at Bells Beach. While it looks like a straightforward right hand point the various sections of Centreside, Point, Rincon, the bowl and the alternate venue of Winkipop all represent very different canvas’s, challenges and opportunities. Most fans have fingers crossed for a big clean swell and the famous Bowl to light up and right now after a small opening day the forecast does suggest some pretty healthy swell on tap. Expect to see surfers using a variety of local experts to work through the various faces of this iconic break.