The 2025 Tasmanian Surf Life Saving Championships take place this weekend at Penguin SLSC with the big clubs looking to once again claim the overall title this year.

Clifton Beach were convincing winners of the overall pointscore in 2024 on the back of winning 53 of 120 events and earning 184 top six results.

Carlton Park and Burnie are expected to be the primary challengers, with Burnie expected to once again dominate the Surf Boat Area.

Two-time defending state champions Burnie Baboons will be looking to defend their Open Male Surf Boat gold, however a new Burnie Bulls team is expected to provide a stern challenge.

This year in the Open Men’s we’ve got the potential for the closest finish in the last few years,” said Hamish Howe, SLST Surf Sports Advisory Committee member. “The Bulls have come on the scene really quickly, then there’s a crew from Devonport. There’s the potential to only be a length or two between those three crews.

“Hopefully it gets pretty spicy!”

“In the Open Women’s, the Burnie Bumblebees are an Under 23 crew who were second last year and they’ll be looking to win both gold medals.”

With the round robin format ensuring crews are on limited backup between races, the Bumblebees will need to keep fatigue at bay on their quest for double gold.

At the other end of the beach, Penguin is hoping to have some success as their athletes have the opportunity to compete at home.

Young gun Xanon Kelly, recently selected in the Tasmanian state team is one to watch, as is former state competitor Hudson Hyland-Wealands whose beach prowess is now translating to the Board.

State team representative Anderson Towns has headed back from Queensland to compete this weekend after damage from Tropical Cyclone Alfred caused their State Titles to be cancelled.

However he will be competing for Alexandra Headland, not Penguin, with his results unfortunately not going towards his home club’s tally.

His father Andrew Towns is a mainstay of Penguin surf sports and is glad to have have his son back competing on his home beach, even if it is in another club cap, and is looking forward to his club having another opportunity to host such a big event.

“It's always an honour to host the State Championships,” he said. “We're lucky that we've got a great stretch of beach to be able to host it.

“In my eyes it’s the best beach on the north-west coast to host the Championships. We've got enough sand to be able to host all our beach events with a fair track and we get some some really good conditions for all the water events; nice and fair racing for all lanes.”

Towns said that preparations have been going on for some time, and now the club is ramping up for the biggest surf sports weekend of the year.

“It's been simmering away for months and coming to the boil the last few days with all the water safety rosters and cleanup duties and everything else,” said Towns. “It certainly does take an army and we're lucky that even though we're a small club, everyone's putting their hand up to take on responsibilities for those two days.”

Having finished fourth on the overall pointscore in 2024, Penguin was in a tight tussle with Port Sorell and Kingston Beach, with Towns believing a top six result would still be a success for the club who have the luxury of competing at home.

“I think that there is a slight advantage in that it's nice not having to travel,” he said. “I think for the competitors knowing they’re home there’s a little less pressure when they're preparing to race on their own beach.”

The 2025 Tasmanian Surf Life Saving Championships take place from 8am AEDT on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 March at Penguin Surf Life Saving Club.

Click here to follow the results via Live Heats.