Photo: Fyn Caudery
Reports Name Al Cleland Jr as Suspended CT Surfer
The World Surf League has provisionally suspended a surfer on the 2026 men's Championship Tour over allegations linked to a private gathering in Tahiti in August. The League has not named the surfer, but news outlets in Tahiti and Australia have reported that it is Mexico's Al Cleland Jr. German pro surfer Noah Klapp has since spoken publicly about her past relationship with him.
Speaking out about abuse takes real courage, and Klapp has shown a great deal of it. Nobody should have to carry something like this for years before feeling able to say it out loud. Abuse has no place in surfing, in the water or out of it, and talent or status should never shield anyone from accountability. The sport has to be a place where people who come forward are listened to and supported.
What the WSL has said
In a statement released on Sunday, the League described the allegations as being of a "deeply serious nature". It said the gathering had no connection to the WSL, though it took place in August, the month the tour stopped at Teahupo'o for the Tahiti Pro. Its Discipline Committee acted promptly once informed and issued a provisional suspension from all WSL events.
The WSL says it can give no further information while it follows its process, and that it has offered assistance to the relevant authorities. A provisional suspension is an interim measure and no findings have been made.
Who has been named
News outlets in Tahiti and Australia, including Radio1 Tahiti and The Nightly, have reported that Cleland is the surfer involved. The WSL has not confirmed the name.
Cleland represented Mexico at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Nightly reports that he is not listed for the Rip Curl Pro in Portugal, which starts on 16 October. Radio1 Tahiti reported that the public prosecutor's office in Papeete said no investigation had been opened locally. Cleland has not been charged with any offence and had not commented publicly at the time of writing. Carve makes no suggestion that he is guilty of any offence.
Noah Klapp speaks out
On Monday, German pro surfer Noah Klapp published a statement on Instagram about her relationship with Cleland, which she says lasted around a year and began when she was 17. In it she alleges that he abused her during that relationship. Her allegations are separate from the matter the WSL is dealing with, have not been tested in court and have not been publicly answered by Cleland.
Klapp, who says she has surfed competitively for the last ten years, had kept that part of her story to herself and a small circle of people for years. Explaining her silence, she wrote that the only thing more painful than carrying it would have been "speaking my truth and not being believed". She described that time as a period of her life that "consumed and destroyed me", and said she has been healing from it for a long time.
The post was met with support from across the sport, with Kelly Slater, Tyler Wright, Bethany Hamilton and Gabriel Medina among those who left messages under it backing her for having the courage to share it.
"It is time to take real action and stop idolizing abusers."
Noah Klapp
Surf culture in the spotlight
Klapp's statement also looked hard at the culture around pro surfing. Drawing on a decade on the competitive circuit, she wrote about watching surfers who partied before contests get more praise than those who took it seriously, and about groups of men who convince each other that their behaviour is fine.
Carve supports Noah Klapp and everyone who has found the strength to speak up. Every surfer, at every level, deserves to feel safe in the water and around the sport, and those who come forward deserve to be heard.
If you need to report harassment or abuse in surfing, the International Surfing Association runs a confidential Safe Report form, which you can use anonymously, at isasurf.org/safe-report. Wherever you are in the world, local support services and helplines are there to listen.
