“Everything in life that’s worth it is hard,” says three-time World Champion Honolua Blomfield after winning the third stop of the 2025 Longboard World Tour just six months after giving birth to her son, Reign.
The Hawaiian gave birth in April this year and returned to the World Tour in July. After losing out early in the first two events of the season, she came into the Middle East as an outside chance to qualify for the final eight and the opportunity to compete for a World Title on Finals Day in El Salvador.
By the second round in Abu Dhabi last week, she appeared back to her blistering World Champion form, pulling into an inside barrel on the right and dropping a 9.8. This was close to the perfect 10 she scored on her way to victory in 2021 at the Surf Ranch, the same year she went on to win her third World Title. From there she was basically unstoppable, the judges clearly rewarding flow off the bottom and surfing that used the entirety of the wave.
Manel Geada / WSL
“I love wave pools, obviously,” Honolua explains. “It’s a perfect canvas, you can do whatever you want on it, and I got creative. That’s how I won last time, so this year I felt like it was kind of a similar thing,” she says.
In what has to be one of the greatest athletic feats ever achieved in surfing, Honolua surfed the same event last year while she was pregnant, returning this year six months postpartum, feeding her baby between heats and paddling out to claim victory.
“Being pregnant last year, it was a lot harder, I feel, because I was still in the phase of pregnancy when I was sick,” Honolua says. “No one knew I was pregnant, so that was kind of hard mentally because you’re thinking, ‘Oh, they just have no idea, I’m sick and I can’t perform my greatest,’” she reflects. “And I was worried if anyone was going to find out because I wanted everyone to find out on my terms.”
Tony Heff / WSL
Coming into the 2025 season, while most would have taken the year off, the idea that having a baby would disrupt Honolua’s career was never considered. “I don’t think it was ever a thought in my mind. This is my career; these are my years that I’m in my best health,” she emphasizes.
“I actually had a natural birth without an epidural. I thought it was going to be painful, but the pain was a thousand times what I ever imagined,” she describes.
“Since giving birth, I pretty much tell myself anytime I have a challenge that I can do anything now that I’ve given birth, so that’s been my motivation this whole year. I guess that’s probably why I’ve had the mental capacity to keep my head strong, because I’ve done the hardest thing in the whole world,” she says.
When reflecting on the early losses of this season, when Finals Day appearances have defined Honolua’s career, the last few months have given her a new perspective.
“I should have given myself a little more grace because I was like, ‘Oh my god, why did I lose first heat?’ I felt so good before the contest, and I just felt maybe a bit embarrassed, unfortunately, to be so confident outside the heat and then go out and put on a performance like that,” she admits.
“It’s not something that you can control, no matter how athletic you are,” she adds. “I didn’t understand that – your body physically is broken, and the only thing that’s going to heal it is time. When I got [to the first WLT event of 2025], I felt fine, but internally I could feel the wounds still there.”
“I know that now, looking back, I should have been proud of myself for even leaving my house,” she says.
Then, for Abu Dhabi, while managing a six-month-old baby with jet lag, against the odds it all came together. “I’d say it was better than a World Title just winning that alone,” Honolua says. “It’s a win in life and a win for moms in general. I hope that it inspired even just one person to really show that you can keep doing what you love.”
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Now, just days away from Finals, what would it mean to Honolua, who comes into the event ranked third, to go all the way and take the World Title home? “Every single World Title I’ve won, it wasn’t because I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do this,’ it kind of just happened,” she says.
“So I’m just going to take it as it comes, and I feel super lucky to not expect to be there at all and then come in at a pretty high seed. I feel like it’s right there for me; I just have to put it all together and try my best. I feel like I’ve already won at life, so that’s all that matters. I have a beautiful baby, and no matter what happens, I will be just as stoked on life and my year.”
The Longboard World Champion will be decided by the Finals Day format in El Salvador November 5-9, when the top eight men and women will compete for the World Title. While Honolua enters the event as the third seed, above her in second is Californian three-time World Champion Soleil Errico, who was a notable absence from the heat draw in Abu Dhabi. The number one seed is Avalon Gall, who has never qualified for Finals Day before and is now just one heat away from winning her maiden World Title after taking out the first event of the season at Huntington Beach and joining Honolua in the final in Abu Dhabi.
In the men’s draw, the top seed is Frenchman Edouard Delpero, who also claimed victory in the UAE. Below him is Australian stylist Kai Ellice-Flint, who earned his maiden WLT event win this year. There are three Australians in the men’s draw, with Bells winner Max Weston sitting in fifth and Manly local Declan Wyton sitting in seventh. With some similarities between the wave at El Sunzal and Bells, the results at Bells could be a good indicator of who might rise to the top in the powerful conditions of El Sunzal.
Also to be noted is that Delpero won ISA gold at the same venue a few months ago, along with Rachael Tilly, who you can never count out of the race despite coming in ranked seventh. Soleil Errico, despite not yet having shown her dominance at El Sunzal, has a power-and-flow combination in her repertoire that suits the wave and has been well rewarded by the judges this year. Goofy-footer Kevin Skvarna has demonstrated total prowess with his backhand power carves throughout the season, dropping scores above nine at both Bells and Abu Dhabi, so he will also be dangerous. In the men’s draw, only number three seed Taylor Jensen has won a World Title before, so we could see a new Men’s World Champion in 2025 if he doesn’t capitalize on the day.