Club sets its sight on bringing back the classic to honour friend and keep longboarding alive

The Geraldton Longboard Club is hoping to bring back one of the most renowned events on the WA calendar as it looks to relaunch the Winter Classic this year. The Winter Classic was held annually at Coronation Beach and saw surfers across WA come to town and formed part of the Triple Crown awarded to competitors who earned the most points across Geraldton’s Winter Classic, Cottesloe’s Whalebone Classic and the Yallingup Malibu Classic. However, the Winter Classic was not held last year and the club itself went quiet as it reeled from the loss of its founder and local surfing legend Daryl Baillie. Club vice-president Sally Dighton said the club at the community took the loss hard. “Daryl was such a big part of this club and the surfing community and without him we felt we couldn’t hold the event last year and being such a longstanding club some people were really burnt out by it and walked away,” she said. But now the club is back hosting its season-opener last weekend and has a firm eye on bringing back the classic. “Everybody is really committed to getting the club back up and running, another year off and we could have lost decades of hard work,” Dighton said. “For his friends and family, I know it means a lot to them, we want to honour Baillie by keeping this club going and getting the classic back. “It was really encouraging to see so many people and families down at our opener from different backgrounds even though we haven’t done a ton of marketing so far.” Dighton said while there was a competitive aspect, the club was about having fun in the water and was open to surfers of all abilities. “The longboard club allows everyone to come together in an encouraging environment and provides a great opportunity to learn and grow in surfing,” she said. “We are open to people of all ages and surfing backgrounds.” The club is currently looking for sponsors to help pull together the Winter Classic which is currently slated to run on June 3-4. Anyone interested in joining the club or wanting more information should contact their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/geraldtonlongboardclub.