The final challenger of the year, Haleiwa, has been cancelled, Stab reported today based on “solid” sources that preferred not to be named.

It is assumed that the tournament will become a regional QS and that therefore there will not be a final of what would be the second division of surfing in the Hawaiian waves.

This puts the WSL in a difficult position when it comes to its new three-tier format, regional, challengers and CT.

Just a few days ago, two confirmed stages in Australia were published and the rest of the calendar remains to be confirmed. Last year, the event was intended to consist of eight tournaments, but the French stage was cancelled due to lack of funds.

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The WSL has also broken with Vans in several of its events such as the Triple Crown and the US Open.

According to Buckley, the author of the Stab article, the US Open is owned by the giant International Management Group, so it seems that this event will take place due to the robustness of the organizer and its commercial appeal.

As reported in an op-ed on DUKE, the WSL appears to be having a hard time marketing events that fall in between the CT and regionals and are presumably priced similarly.

The full challenger schedule was originally scheduled to be released on November 15.