Stab Magazine | Watch: The Nu Church Of Surf! With Julian Wilson And Kai Lenny
1327 Views

Watch: The Nu Church Of Surf! With Julian Wilson And Kai Lenny

Everybody welcome! Don’t hate; Celebrate!

cinema // Apr 16, 2020
Words by stab
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Right now, Stab and Oakley can’t help but be intoxicated by the all-­inclusiveness in surfing. While we love the champagne end of the spectrum, we can also dig all (read: most) other kinds of surf crafts. Not everyone is a Formula 1 driver, nor wants to drive a race car. Sometimes you just wanna breeze down the line. 

All of a sudden, it’s 2016 and lineups aren’t just males on 6’0” thrusters anymore. Floating over any takeoff spot around the world, today, it wouldn’t be strange to find any combination of twin fins, single fins, soft-­tops, logs, Alaias, Bonzers, and girls who surf better than you.

It was this status quo that found Stab and Oakley in Bali, at a popular reefbreak, watching Kai Lenny levitate down the face of a set on his hydrofoil, while Julian Wilson jumped high behind him. See, we wanted to capture imagery that symbolised the harmony in surf right now.

STAB 2 LawrenceN 1608 5024

Stab and Oakley took Julian Wilson, Kai Lenny and charming Argentinean longboarder, Alessia Marietti, to Bali – three different surfers, riding three very different boards (a hydrofoil, a performance thruster and a longboard). The aim? To create visual representation of surfing’s new mantra: Any time in the water is a good time.

Few surfers embody this philosophy better than Jules and Kai. Julian comes from Noosa, on Australia’s north coast, where fun is the only rule and, thanks to small­ish waves for the majority of the year, a variety of crafts and a non­elitist attitude are required to maximise pleasure: Soft-tops, logs, singles, twins, fishes, thrusters, whatever is called for. Kai, on the other hand, was guided by gents like Laird Hamilton, who are dedicated to preserving the ancient Hawaiian waterman traditions born of The Duke’s era. Shortboard, longboard, SUP, kite surf, windsurf, Hydrofoil, it don’t matter to Kai.

And so, we brought these two everything-specialists together to hum like two harmonies in a song, and to create visual representation of surfing’s new mantra: In 2016, everyone’s welcome in the lineup, and any time in the water is a good time.

STAB Image 1 1608 5105 Edit

Kai and Jules: Same song, different harmonies.

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Why Shane Dorian Is Still Sponsored And Still Wrangling Massive Pipeline At 53 Years Old

“In life, you have to adapt or die. Period."

Mar 5, 2026

Medina’s Sponsor Search Takes A Clever Turn

Higher education enters the sport of homeschooling.

Mar 5, 2026

The Most Controversial Stab In The Dark Ever

174 waves and 14.5 hours in the brine later.

Mar 4, 2026

WSL Drops New 2026 Challenger Series Schedule… With A Twist

Pipeline: out. Cloud 9: in?

Mar 3, 2026

Watch: The Finale Of Stab In The Dark X Starring Kelly Slater

The winner is...

Mar 2, 2026

Kelly Slater + Dane Reynolds Talk Lineup Psychosis And The Untold Stories Of SITD X | StabMic Episode 03

The 11x World Champ rings in from NZ.

Feb 27, 2026

SEOTY: Liam O’Brien Stars In AMALGAM

Surfing's beloved intellectual lunatic takes a tour of the Southern Hemisphere.

Feb 26, 2026

“Everyone Knows I Was A Motherfucker At One Time. I’m Not Afraid To Own Up To That.”

Makua Rothman on catching the wave of his life while high on Oxys, the issues…

Feb 25, 2026

Stab In The Dark X Predictions From Mason Ho, Jake Paterson, Joe Turpel And More

“Some good history there. If it happens we are truly in the year 2026.”

Feb 25, 2026

Filmmaker Andy Woodward’s Front-Row Seat To The Aftermath Of El Mencho’s Death

"There's cars on fire everywhere. It's war zone shit."

Feb 25, 2026

Watch: Yago Dora, Eithan Osborne & Shane Borland Bless New Saudi Wavepool With NBDs

Where billionaires get their wings.

Feb 24, 2026

Could We Please Ask A Significant Favor?  

SITD X requires more literage.

Feb 24, 2026

What Surfing Should Learn From The Winter Olympics

Thank fuck that’s not us!

Feb 22, 2026

World Champs And WSL President Reject Surfing’s New Olympic Qualification System, Demand Revisions From ISA

Yago Dora, Caity Simmers, Ryan Crosby and more take a stand.

Feb 21, 2026

Hemp In The Athlete Zone, Pipe Master On Hypto Kryptos, Freesurfers Monetize Loneliness

This is the new order of operations — a Q1 industry report.

Feb 20, 2026

“It Was Like the Fourth of July. The Kitchen Sink’s Shattering. The Curtains Are On Fire. I Was Just Swimming Though Black Smoke.”

Kolohe Andino recalls the Gold Coast apartment fire that almost took everything.

Feb 20, 2026

Watch: Dane Reynolds Quizzes The Reigning World Champ | StabMic Episode 02

Yago Dora on his title year, the Volcom x Dad split, EAST over SITD, CT…

Feb 19, 2026

What I Learned Shooting Stab in the Dark with Kelly Slater

These innocuous observations from 11 days working with the greatest surfer of all time. 

Feb 18, 2026
Advertisement