Monday action called off after one heat at World Surf League Championship Tour event in Raglan

Monday, 18 May 2026

American Griffin Colapinto got the better of his younger brother in what proved the only action on Monday at the New Zealand Pro in Raglan.

The action was over almost before it started at the World Surf League Championship Tour event in Raglan on Monday.

After the fourth day of the competition window was originally given the green light by officials at 7.15am for a 7.35am start, just one 35-minute heat was run before the pin was pulled due to the flat swell at Manu Bay.

It continues an inconsistent programme for the event, the biggest-ever of its kind to be held in New Zealand. Friday’s opening day saw a whopping 20 heats (44-minute overlapping ones) run, then Saturday was called off due to small surf, before Sunday had 16 heats (35-minute ones) completed, though with the often slow waves proving a challenge.

The WSL said Monday’s early-morning free surf saw multiple waves in the two-to-three-foot range, offering plenty of opportunity for the men’s round-three action.

But as soon as things got started, in a sibling showdown between American brothers Griffin and Crosby Colapinto, the ocean slowed right down and it was clear that with the tide continuing to rise (high tide at 11.07am), the waves were close to stopping and the competition would need to be put on hold.

Conditions quickly became rather flat at Manu Bay on Monday morning, causing the cancellation of the day’s competition.

“Incredible waves this morning, and it was a no-brainer to start the event, talking to all the surfers and the coaches,” Renato Hickel, WSL VP Tours and Competition,” told the host broadcast.

“We started the event three and a half hours before [high tide], it just goes to show we are in the hands of Mother Nature.

“It was a really difficult heat, this first one. I talked to [Gabriel] Medina and Filipe [Toledo], the surfers in heat two, and we decided to call the event off for today.

“We’re moving to better tides from tomorrow onwards, so we’re going to try again tomorrow, same call at 7.15am for a possible 7.35am start.

“Today, we were hoping to do four heats, and we did one. That's the way it goes sometimes. At this stage, we don't have any other sizeable surf in the forecast. We're hopeful that by Sunday and Monday, the last two days of the waiting period, we can have better news and these storms materialise.

Crosby Colapinto exits the water and makes his way up the rocks after his third-round heat loss to his older brother.

“At this point, we can't count on those two days in the window. So, regardless of what happens, we're going to have to run heats in small surf. We’re going to try get the best tides, the best moments with the wind, too. So we’re going to have to cherry-pick the moments to try to put the surfers in the best possible conditions.”

In the very brief action that did unfold on Monday, it was big bro (Griffin, 27) who got the bragging rights over little bro (Crosby, 24), in an 11.33 (6.00 + 5.33) to 9.53 (5.53 + 4.00) victory.

That reversed the result from their last matchup, on the second stop of the tour, the Margaret River Pro, in Western Australia, last month, where Crosby narrowly prevailed 13.67 to 13.43 in the third round, and now makes the ledger 2-1 to Griffin, who had won their first head-to-head two years ago at Bells Beach, Victoria.

When competition does resume in Raglan, the next of the remaining seven men’s round-three heats promises to be a beauty, in an all-Brazilian showdown between two of the biggest names on the tour in three-time world champion (2014, 2018, 2021) Medina and two-time world champ (2022, 2023) Toledo, who are both hunting their first titles of the season.