Julian Wilson finally has an exclusive board sponsor

Words by Sean Doherty

Current WSL world number four and reigning Pipeline Master, Julian Wilson has signed exclusively with JS Industries surfboards.

The Coolum surfer, 26, has spent the past three years riding boards from a number of the world’s best shapers – JS included – rotating boards and shapers according to conditions, but has made the decision to ride Jason Stevenson’s boards full time.

“JS shapes great boards for sand bottom points, but is also able to shape great boards for heavy Pipeline as well,” said Wilson. “It’s a telling sign that I don’t need to be looking anymore. I’m happy to go all-in with the Traktors.”

One of the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place in December last year when Julian won the Pipeline Masters riding a JS “Traktor”. “A big factor in going all-in was that his boards go so well in serious waves like Hawaii, Fiji and Tahiti. They’re key spots where you need to have your boards wired.

“I just feel like I’m at a place where I’m comfortable riding JS’s boards wherever I go. I’m at a spot where I have a good board for every spot on tour.” Backing this up, Julian has made three tour finals this season – Snapper Rocks, Cloudbreak and Jeffreys Bay – all of them on JS boards.

“He’s one of the best guys in the world and a freak talent,” offers JS owner and shaper, Jason Stevenson. “He’s an amazing surfer and an amazing athlete. It’s been a work in progress with Julian – he’s ridden some of the top brands for a while now – but over the past 18 months we’ve worked together more and built a platform to go next level.”

One of the best all-round surfers in the world – a guy whose surfing is both progressive and powerful – the challenge has been to design an all-round board that gets the best from both sides of Julian’s surfing. JS and Julian cracked the code back in April, and the resulting boards will go with Julian to Trestles, the next stop on the WSL World Champion Tour. “That’s the board we’ve been working on the most,” offers Julian, “a board I can ride at a beachbreak and go left or right, and feel comfortable doing airs or tricks but also be able to lay it over on rail. That’s what we’ve been working on and that’s the board I’ll be taking to Trestles and Europe.”

“The boards he’s riding now are like nobody else’s,” says JS. “He’s taken design theories and thought processes and run with them. I’ve had to rethink the wheel a little bit with him, which is great. He’s such a good surfer and is really knowledgeable about board design, and he really challenges you as a shaper.”

Julian enters the Hurley Pro at Lower Trestles, California rated number four in the world, with the best chance of his career to go on and win a world title. Now with his commitment to JS Industries, the opportunity for both, athlete and shaper to refine and progress are sure to produce some of the worlds best surfing on some of the worlds best surfboards.

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And might Stab just add, that despite the fact Julian snapped the JS first wave during our Stab In The Dark experiment, he did nail one of the biggest airs of the trip on it (buckled on landing, sadly) and said later: “It’s really hard to talk about how this board went because, for the split second it was in one piece, it felt great. This is the one I was thinking was a JS. All the signs were there for a good board.”