Wavelength Surf Magazine – since 1981

An Interview With Indo Shredder Lee Wilson

We’ve long been fans of Lee Wilson here at ‘Length, he’s one of those surfers for us, that whenever he puts out a clip, we jump on it, secured in the knowledge we’re in for a high performance spectacle, usually filmed at the various world class breaks that make up Lee’s local coastline. (Check out our favourite recent edits of Lee here and here).

However, we’ve never delved particularly deeply into his back story, which it turns out is a pretty wild one. He is half Australian, half Indonesian, and spent a large part of his youth growing up in each country, before finally settling in Indo. He is an incredibly talented and raw surfer, who despite being on the international radar for some time had struggled to secure major sponsorship till his current partnership with Brixton. On a recent boat trip with What Youth to the Mentawais,  they decided to sit him down and have a chat with him about the long and tumultuous journey that has lead him to where he is now- a point which he cites as his career high point and a dream come true.

In this interview he delves deep into his journey, speaking about his formative years growing up and going to school in Indo, his struggle to get sponsored within an Aussie-USA centric surf industry, and how he almost turned his back on surfing altogether.