With only two events remaining to qualify for the 2025 WSL Challenger Tour, it’s crunch time for some surfers.
The EDP Ericeria Pro is the penultimate stop on the challenger series, and most surfers show up to Portugal’s wave-rich landscape with tense nerves, lofty expectations, and pulsating stress levels. Our own Kirra Pinkerton isn’t feeling the pressure, however.
In fact, she arrived to the beach at Ribeira D’Ilhas with not only her quiver dialed but her flow set to cruise control. If you’ve been keeping up with Kirra on both ours and her own socials, you’re already well aware of how tapped-in her surfing’s been recently.
But if you haven’t, here’s some by-the-numbers context to get you up to speed. Kirra entered Ericeira in 13th place overall on the world rankings of the women’s challenger series. Now, only the top five qualify for next year’s CT. But, Kirra only needs a few good results and some bracket-stage finishes to get there.
So now, we’ve set the scene. Kirra was able to bypass the initial round of 48 due to her higher overall standings, making her first appearance in heat five of the round of 32 instead. She finished first overall there, narrowly beating CT-bound surfer Bella Kenworthy. From there, it was on to the bracket stage, where Kirra had no problem putting Peruvian surfer Sol Aguirre to the side in the round of 16.
And that’s where we are now. Kirra is set to surf in heat three of the quarterfinals in a rematch against round of 32 opponent Bella Kenworthy. Stock up on cold ones and text your friends because you’ll want to get a watch party going for this.
You can catch it all live on the World Surf League dot com when it kicks off around 11:00 PM PST. You can also watch the live stream on their YouTube.
Keep following us right here for more live updates from Kirra, the WSL, and just some overall good surfing. You can also stay updated on all our socials so you don’t miss a moment in the, well, moment. Now, go fill your fridge with some proper beers while you have the time.