“Before there were rankings, rivalries and World Titles… there was the ocean,” Fiji Surfing Association President and Fijian pro surfing pioneer Hannah Bennett said in her speech as she opened stop number eight of the 2026 Championship Tour. “And before there was a Fiji Pro… there were people who knew these waters,” she continued. “People who understood the ocean not simply as a resource, but as a relative, as an ancestor — something we belong to.” This year’s event holds extra significance for Bennett and the wider Fijian surf community. For the first time, a women’s local trials winner, Ulukilupetea Kurop, is in the draw. This moment has been a long time coming for Bennett, who was the first Fijian surfer to chase the WSL Qualifying Series back in 2015. She was born in the capital of Suva, but spent her early years on her mother’s home island of Rotuma, where she was inspired by her two older sisters to start surfing.…