The final was held at Nakatajima Beach, and by the time Dhea Novitasari paddled back to shore, two Japanese surfers had been left in her wake. Not metaphorically — literally. Hiroki Yoshikawa and Yamaguchi Hana, surfing in their home waters, could not match what this 20-something from Indonesia had just done on their waves.

On a Sunday in Hamamatsu, Japan, Dhea won the World Surf League (WSL) Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) 1000 Women's Hamamatsu Open 2026 — and with it, a spot no Indonesian woman had ever earned: a place on the WSL Longboard Tour 2026/2027, the elite global circuit for professional longboarders.

Who is Dhea Novitasari? She is an Indonesian professional surfer competing on the WSL Longboard circuit, now ranked among the world's elite after winning the LQS 1000 Hamamatsu Open in Japan in 2026. Her qualification for the WSL Longboard Tour 2026/2027 makes her the first Indonesian woman — and the fourth Asian woman ever — to reach the sport's top competitive tier.

What happened at Nakatajima Beach?

The atmosphere at Nakatajima is unlike most competition venues — the beach sits inside a pine forest park along Hamamatsu's coast, where the salt air mixes with the cedar, and the crowd gathers close enough to hear the boards cut through water. In those conditions, Dhea performed with a calm that belied the stakes.

She posted a combined score of 15.87 from her two best waves — the highest of any competitor — and recorded a single-wave score of 8.67, which was the best individual ride of the entire final. That margin wasn't a close call. It was a statement.

Is this her first WSL win?

No — and that's the detail that gets overlooked. In July 2025, Dhea had already won the WSL Longboard Qualifying Series Siheung Korea Open. That win put her on the map. Hamamatsu 2026 put her in history. The back-to-back victories are what triggered the qualification threshold for the WSL Longboard Tour.

According to the Persatuan Selancar Ombak Indonesia (PSOI), Dhea is now only the fourth Asian woman to enter the elite longboarding world tour — a list so short it still fits in a single sentence.

What does this mean for Indonesian surfing?

Indonesia has produced male surfing stars for decades, from Bali's professional circuit to Olympic representation. But the women's side of high-performance competitive surfing has largely remained a gap. Dhea Novitasari, competing under the red and white flag at Nakatajima, is changing that — one wave at a time.

After the win, she said she would continue training to prepare for the WSL Longboard Tour 2026/2027. For Indonesia's next generation of female athletes watching from Bali, Lombok, or Mentawai, that preparation starts now.