Zhoushan, China – 20 September 2026: The fourth annual Dongsha Open of Surfing wrapped up at Dongsha Beach in Zhoushan today with two days of competitive surfing, international camaraderie and a celebration of the growing surf community in East China.
The first stop on the 2026-27 Asian ProAm Surf Series (APSS), the event brought together surfers from China and around Asia, as well as competitors from France, Spain, Korea, India and Hong Kong. Hosted by City Surfer, the event once again combined high-level longboard competition with a relaxed atmosphere designed to bring surfers together to experience the waves, culture and hospitality of Zhoushan.
Indonesia’s Dhany Widianto successfully defended his Men’s Longboard title, in a 25 minute final that included China’s Hou Ming Cai, fellow Indonesian Refansyah Putra and France’s Nathan Sadoun.
With only a handful of waves ridden by Widianto, his patience and wave selection proved to be the winning formula. Widianto caught the best waves of the final, scoring the event’s only excellent score of 8.00, with trips to the nose for Hang 5’s and Hang 10’s combined with a turns in critical sections to impress the judges, added to a 7.33 for a winning total of 15.33.
“It took some patience to find the good waves out there,” said Widianto. “The swell is much bigger today and that made it tricky as not all the waves break in the same place. I’m glad we could have the finals in the biggest day of surf, and I’m really happy to win again and have a good time with those guys in the final.”
Widianto, who was the Men’s Shortboard and Longboard Overall champion of the inaugural 2025–26 APSS season as well as last year’s Dongsha Open champion, said he continues to enjoy returning to Dongsha Beach.
“I really like coming back here to Dongsha Beach and seeing everyone again. Thanks to the locals for sharing their place with us. Good food, good vibes…I really enjoyed my time and I’m grateful we can come here.”
DONG WENYUE CLAIMS EXCITING WOMEN’S VICTORY
The Women’s Longboard Final delivered one of the closest finishes of the event, with China’s Dong Wenyue defeating defending champion Dhea Natasya in a dramatic final exchange.
For most of the 25-minute final, competitors struggled to find high-scoring waves. But the final five minutes produced a series of closely scored waves, with Dong and Dhea trading scores in the four-point range.
When the final horn sounded, Dong Wenyue edged ahead with a total of 9.00, consisting of a 4.27 and 4.73, while Dhea finished with 8.60.
The victory marked the first time a Chinese woman has won the Dongsha Open Women’s Longboard Division since the event was first held in 2023.
“I’m really thrilled to win today, to get this trophy and the prize money — especially the prize money!” said Dong. “I can’t wait to spend it.”
A member of the Hainan Provincial Team, Dong said her daily training and competition experience helped her maintain confidence during the final.
“During this contest, I kept building up my confidence, telling myself not to fear difficulties and dare to challenge. In the end, I caught a high-scoring wave and took the lead.”
India’s Reshma Krisna set a personal best, reaching the Women’s Longboard Final in her first appearance at the event.
“It feels really special to be here in China, and even better to make it into the final,” said Krisna. “I just started competing this year, representing my country as a longboarder, so I’m learning all the time and I feel like in this contest I really leveled up.”
WEEKEND WARRIORS BRING A NEW FORMAT
The 2026 the Dongsha Open also introduced the Weekend Warriors divisions, giving local residents, recreational surfers and other participants an opportunity to experience competition in a relaxed and accessible format.
Rather than a traditional elimination system, the Weekend Warriors competed twice in a leaderboard format, with their best scores combined before the top four advanced to the final. The format gave every competitor two opportunities to post a score and reduced the impact of limited waves or difficult conditions.
Wu Dixun won the Men’s Weekend Warriors Division, while Li Wenyu took the Women’s title.
The new format was designed to reinforce one of the key objectives of the Dongsha Open: creating an event where surfers of different backgrounds and experience levels can share the same beach and enjoy the competitive experience.
SURFING, COMMUNITY AND ZHOUSHAN
For City Surfer founder Terry Chen, the competition is only one part of what makes the Dongsha Open special.
“This event keeps on getting better and better,” said Chen. “This year we had great waves, a great party, and above all lots of great people came from all over to enjoy it with us.”
Chen said bringing international surfers into the local community was an important part of the event’s development.
“It’s good to introduce the international surfers to our surfing community, so they can learn and progress as well. Today we saw one of our Chinese surfers win the Women’s Longboard Division, so that was pretty amazing. Next year we’ll get more international participants and make an even bigger event. That’s our plan.”
The two-day event featured changing conditions, with smaller and slightly windy waves on the opening morning. There was a break at 10 am for the traditional Opening Ceremony with the government dignitaries, then the event progressed through to the Weekend Warrior finals.
After everyone had dinner together, there was evening celebration at the Skate Park featuring fire dancers, a live band, DJ performances and games.
As the APSS continues to expand, the Dongsha Open represents the type of event the series was created to support — bringing surfers from different countries and communities together to compete, discover new waves, experience different cultures and enjoy the shared lifestyle of surfing.
See complete results and scores on LiveHeats:
https://liveheats.com/events/536000
ABOUT THE ASIAN PROAM SURF SERIES
The Asian ProAm Surf Series (APSS) is an Asian-wide competition initiative designed to support surfing development by bridging the gap between grassroots events and global platforms, helping talented surfers develop toward professional competition while giving traveling and adventure surfers opportunities to discover new places, meet new people and experience sanctioned surfing events across Asia.
More: www.asiansurf.co | Instagram: @asiansurfco @asianproamsurfseries @citysurfercn
About City Surfer Surf Club:
City Surfer opened the first surf shop and surf school at Dongsha Beach in 2021, and has since been putting great effort into building one of the best surf communities in China. Dongsha Beach has a sand bottom, making it friendly for all levels of surfers, and it gets decent swell virtually all year long, but with best surf conditions from May – November due to the most favorable water and air temperatures. And it’s only 4 hours from Shanghai, allowing those city dwellers to drive out on weekends or holidays to come and get their surfing fix. See more on IG @citysurfercn
About Zhoushan:
Zhoushan is an archipelago with 2,085 islands, located at the intersection of the East China coastline and the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, backed by the Yangtze River Delta and rich in marine tourism resources, making it the first choice for marine tourism in East China. Dongsha on Zhujaijain Island is a national 4A level scenic area across the bay from Putuo Mountain, and with its unique conditions makes it the best surfing spot in East China.
About Liveheats:
Liveheats is a digital platform that powers competitive action sporting events – from local clubs to professional world tours. The platform is designed to empower sporting communities, event organisers, and athletes by providing powerful competition features built for modern action sports. See more at www.liveheats.com and on IG @live_heats