JS Dominated The Quik Pro
A look at Julian Wilson and Ace Buchan’s magic carpets.
In the all Australian finale of the Quiksilver Pro, you may not have realised both Jules and Ace were atop Jason Stevenson sticks.
We’re not saying that by waxing up a JS you’ll be able to drive through top to bottom Kirra heavers like Julian or Adrian, but the two gents certainly looked good atop their respective sleds. Other comp standouts, Mikey Wright and Joel Parko, were also riding Mr Stevenson’s boards.

A separated shoulder wasn’t stopping Mr. Wilson from driving through this for a 9.93.
Photography
Scott Hammonds
Jules was atop his signature model the Air 17 – 6’0″ x 18 3/4″ x 2 3/8″ x 28.2L – for the entirety of the event; ranging from heavy tunnels at Kirra on finals day to head high Snapper walls. Jules’ separated shoulder may have rendered his paddle and duckdiving ability near-useless, but he wasn’t lacking any of his usual flair once he was up on two feet.
Julian’s quiver for Snapper was finished on Friday the 9th of March and the boards were carted up to his Sunny Coast abode the next day. The following day, the comp kicked off. Julian managed to scrape in a quick surf on Saturday once they arrived to get a feeling for his new boards. Sunday, at the crack of dawn, he made the trip down from the Sunshine Coast just in time to win his Round 1 heat.
In hindsight, perhaps a little injury lay-time was exactly what Julian needed; putting surfing on the backburner and focussing on his family and recovery evidently worked wonders at the Snapper comp.
Thankfully there’s a ski on hand at Bells too.

is there anyone with a more consistent backhand hammer than Adrian Buchan?
Photography
Scott Hammonds
As for Ace, he went with the relatively fresh HYFI Monsta 8 model – which we saw the JS team tearing upon a few weeks back (re-visit below). Ace’s choice of board is slightly shorter than Julian’s, coming in at 5’10” x 18 5/8″ x 2 5/16″ x 25.5L. Ace, like Jules, rode this board throughout the contest regardless of the conditions. Unlike Jules, Ace’s board is an epoxy resin/EPS foam construction; typically anything epoxy-related is thought to only go well in small, powerless waves, but judging from his finals day standout performance we’ll need to realign our preconceived notions.
The board is also based off the same design that Ace rode on the way to his final last year in Brazil and the semis at Trestles.
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