MARRAWAH/TASMANIA (Thursday, March 20th/2025): This Easter Long Weekend from Friday, April 18th, Surfers from all around the state will converge in Marrawah on Tasmania’s North West tip to compete in one of the oldest surfing contests in Australia.
The 50th running of the Rip Curl West Coast Classic presented by Surfing Tasmania will attract more than one hundred Tasmanian and mainland surfers to the region to celebrate what is the state’s longest-running and most prestigious event.
The Open Men’s and Women’s honour roll features a who’s who of Tassie legends, with a smattering of interstate talent good enough to upset the apple cart now and then.
Former World Junior Champion Dara Penfold, Jy and Luke Johannesen, and Current Australian Over 45’s Champion Dustin Hollick are just a few names over the history of the event to win titles.
Long-time Event Director Glenn Saltmarsh could tell stories about West Coast Classics gone by for hours and is pumped about this year’s huge weekend.
“Fifty years of surf contests in a rural conservative area such as Marrawah,
Who would have thought that the Classic would be so incredibly popular and still going from strength to strength! The competitor numbers were small once; now it’s two full days of heats to get through to the finals! There’s a great diversity of people now competing and the weekend is incredibly fun, and of course, there’s a great level of surfing going down.
As Mick Lawrence said, It’s the annual get-together. Fifty years of The West Coast Classic, it’s an incredible achievement for all involved, and it takes a good crew to run it. This will be my 37th year as contest director. You get to meet lots of people and form strong friendships along the way. I would like to say a special thank you to all the people who have helped and assisted over the years; you are very much appreciated, it could not have been done without you! The 50th Rip Curl West Coast Classic is going to be huge, look out!” said Saltmarsh with his trademark grin.
BELOW: Glenn “Salty” Saltmarsh with Tommy Tiemans
The 2025 Rip Curl West Coast Classic Presented by Surfing Tasmania is a 6500-point rated event on the Surfing Australian Junior National Rankings Schedule, with the event set to attract some of the country’s best junior talent on the hunt for all-important rankings points (counting towards State Team selection for the Australian Junior Surfing Titles and Junior Irukandjis Team selection) at the end of the calendar year.
This will not only give our home-grown talent an early warm-up for the Australian Junior Surfing Titles later in the year but also certainly see some cross-over into the Open Men’s and Women’s Draws in what is set to be a bumper year for entries and hopefully waves!
The 2025 Rip Curl West Coast Classic Presented by Surfing Tasmania will run from April 18th – 21st with capped numbers in each division. Please click through the link below to access the event entry portal!
SURFING AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL RANKINGS HERE
The 2025 West Coast Classic is supported by Rip Curl, Surfing Tasmania, SeaFM Devonport, Red Herring Surf Co, Circular Head Council, Marrawah Inn, Woolnorth Renewables, Tasmanian Government, Craig Garland, Ocean & Earth, Reef Australia, ATR Accountants, Supoto Dairy Australia, We Are Feel Good Inc, Dometic, Canoe and Surf, Flowerdale, SIN eyewear, Far King Surf, Natural Edge, John Van Der Woude, McGrath & Co Lawyers, Duncan Sadler, Everett Flight & Associates Lawyers, Brittons Timbers, Polished Concrete Tasmania, Marrawah Kelp, Thistle Hut Cafe, Marrawah Store, King Island Brewhouse and Bradley Surfboards.
