Mr Wilson

Dane and Jordy? Yeah,they’re awesome. But did you know Australia’s got it’s own kid genius? This 19-year-old is
the best thing out of Australia since Taj Burrowand he’s got the greatest combo of talent and looks since cue-ball Kelly had a rug.

Even Calvin Klein agrees!

Interview by Aaron Blakey. Photos by Jason Childs.

× Stab: Jules, what’s shaking?
Hey, not much. I’m on the Central Coast hanging with Wilko [Matt Wilkinson]. I just got out of the water at Copacabana. We’ve been doing tow-ats all morning.

Nice. Describe the best turn you did today.
A backhand fin-slide.

Cool, I thought you were going to say a frontside air-reverse.
Air-reverse? That’s not a turn.

Thank god you said that. Even though I’ve never done one I’m over the stinking things.
Yeah, they’ve been done to death.

A few people can still get away with them and you’re probably one of them. What’s the key to a worthy spinner?
Mixing up the grab, tweaking the tail of your board so you’re getting a little more inverted and going high and looking to get full rotation above the lip.

Is an average air-reverse as bad as a chop hop?
Pretty much. A small or average air-reverse can be embarrassing.

Jake Paterson did a trip to Indo with yourself, Dane Reynolds, Clay Marzo and Ry Craike for YG3 [Young Guns II] and he tells me you guys are overly critical of your own surfing when watching the footage.
Reynolds is the worst. He’ll pull a turn that would probably have been the turn of my life and he’ll ride out of it doing a poo-man with his head between his legs. I think he approaches a section with a move in his head and when it doesn’t go the way he planned he’s over it. I think it’s good to think you can do better, if you’re happy with what you’re doing you’ll never get any better.

Speaking of YG3, you bagged best performance by a male for your part in the movie at the Surfer Poll Awards. That’s a big prize.
It’s massive. I didn’t really think about it until after I won the award. I was talking to Craikey [Ry Craike] and he was like, ‘Winning that award is like winning the world title for freesurfing’. When you think about it like that I s’pose it’s a pretty massive achievement.

The power-horny Aussie in me would have loved to see you bury some more rail in the vid instead getting caught up in Clay Marzo’s brand of fin-throw surfing. Do you have the rail work down like the airs?
Yeah, I agree, there could have been more rail work in there. I think I’ve got some improving to do on my rail turns but then when I’m putting together a video section I’m really looking to appeal to the younger audience and I think they love seeing the big airs and fin wafts and those type of things.

Yeah right, maybe I’m just old and out of touch. So, who has the best video sections according to your eyes?
I’ve always liked Taj’s sections because he always has a little bit of everything in there. Sabotaj and Montaj are two of my favourite surf movies. Dane’s movie [First Chapter] was epic too. I just like sections that have a good mix of massive airs, carve and pits. I like to see some good eight-foot waves in there too but I don’t care for the big wave tow-in stuff.

I’m all for self-glorification but someone told me that your bedroom walls are covered in posters and pictures of yourself from magazines. That might be taking it a bit far, Jules. Is it true?
I don’t even have a bedroom. I sleep in the lounge room on a mattress.

What? No bedroom? What are you earning a year, 200k? And you’re sleeping on the lounge room floor? What are you doing with all your money?
Ha! I’m hardly ever there so my bedroom’s been turned into my surfboard room slash trophy room slash computer room slash mum’s poster room.

So mum’s has made your room into a little Jules shrine. Yeah, she has, she loves it. She collects the clippings from papers and mags and puts em all up. I love your mum. Nola’s one of the coolest people I’ve met. She also does the artwork on your sticks too, huh?
Yeah, it’s perfect. I go away and a bunch of fresh boards arrive while I’m gone and mum’s got them all tricked out with cool art by the time I get home.

Not too many teenagers would trust their mum to attack their new weapons with a set of Boscas. What kind of gear does she put on em?
She does all kinds of different gear. Sometimes she does these Aboriginal-like pieces and other times she’ll do something completely different. She just does whatever she feels like and it usually turns out really well.

I’ve seen you hanging with your mum at comps and you give her a kiss before each heat. Most teenagers are allergic to their parents but you seem to really enjoy the company of your old girl?
Mum got me where I am so I’m not going to push her away. She brings confidence to my surfing in contests and I like to prove that I can do it in front of her. Since I was 11 I’ve always given her a kiss before I go out for my heat for good luck and it usually works. Now that I’m getting older she’s not always at each comp but I’m surviving.

You sweet little angel. A year or so ago Quiksilver gave you a meaty truck. What act of awesomeness prompted their generosity?
That was present to celebrate signing a new five-year contract. It’s a black SR5 Toyota Hilux dual cab. It was sweet because I only just got my license and I was about to buy a car and this truck arrives. I actually crashed it not long ago. I was on the beach with my brother and we had the jet ski on the back and the trailer jack-knifed and almost smashed straight into my window.

When Jordy Smith was shopping for a new sponsor recently everyone in the game knew and was talking about it. When your contract came up I didn’t hear a damn thing. Did you shop your signature around?
Nah, I don’t think too many people knew I was reaching the end of my contract. That’s my brother’s department [Julian’s older bro Bart is his manager]. He kept it low key because I wanted to stay with Quiksilver and we didn’t want to piss them off. A couple of people asked me when I was off contract but I think they had a feeling I was really happy at Quik.

You might be the prettiest surfer with a serious amount of talent since Kelly had hair. No doubt the ladies are giving you some love.
Sheesh, I don’t know, it’s not too bad at the moment. When I was in America for the premiere of YG3 there was a lot of young grommet girls kind of squealing and stuff that was pretty full on.
Do people know who you are in America?
I still feel pretty new on the scene but since YG3 I’m definitely a little more recognised over there.

Have your looks ever attracted the attention of companies outside of surfing?
The other day Calvin Klein made contact and wanted to do something with me in the States. That would have been massive but I couldn’t do it obviously because I’m with Quiksilver. That’s the only one I know of.

Right now you’re the only teenage Australian with any sort of international future along the lines of Jordy and Dane. Agree?

Yeah, it feels like it’s going that way a little bit. I believe they’re the main guys coming up and they’re going to change things a lot on tour next year and in the future. It’s cool to be in the same boat as them.

Do you feel the weightlessness of having this extraordinary future?
I feel comfortable but I don’t want to think that way at all. I want to work for it and make the best career out of surfing I can. I don’t want to rest on a good contract without winning a world title. I also want to make the best video sections I can.

Do you think about the money you’ll bank in the future?
Yeah, I do, especially in the last year since the figures have been getting a lot bigger. I feel really lucky for what everything I get. I’m especially lucky I can leave all that gear in my brother’s hands and can totally trust him to look after it all for me. He knows exactly what I want.

Do you feel any pressure?
There’s not too much pressure right now because I’m pretty young and I’ve had a good year competitively and freesurfing-wise. Next year it might get a little harder because of my own expectations and wanting to improve on my achievements.

Are you happy with your style?
Um… I think it could still mature.

Mature? What does that mean?
I don’t know, maybe it’s a little unique. Um… aaagh…

It seems like you’re trying to say something and I think I might be able to say it for you: It seems at times your ass sticks right out. Are you aware of this?
Yeah… hee hee… I’m definitely aware of it. I think about it a lot when I’m surfing but it’s kind of hard to worry about your bum when you’re trying to stick a big air or a trick.