Chippa Wilson

Blame it on the internet—and insane skills. Thanks to a series of web edits that quickly garnered attention, Chippa Wilson went from pounding nails as a carpenter to traveling the globe and headlining surf films. Chippa’s skate-influenced style, creativity, and aerial skills enable him to push progression. Whether pioneering new tricks or simply throwing down classics, he provides a fresh approach to surfing. Humble and soft-spoken, Chippa lets his surfing speak for itself. And needless to say, we’re always hyped to listen. We caught up with Chippa to see what he has be up to... Check out the exclusive interview below.

Chippa how’s it feel surfing again coming off a long injury?

Yeah, to be honest, it feels amazing coming off an injury. I was out of the water for pretty much one year, close to like 10 months of absolutely no surfing and not being in the water on a board. So yeah, once I hit the water with a surf board, God, I felt amazing. I was completely, what would you call it?… Recharged. I was pretty burnt out before the injury. I was going as hard as you can burning the candle on both ends traveling, a little bit of partying and just absolutely demolishing my body and yeah, the injury just goes to tell of how hard I was going. But yeah, it feels amazing…. I'm feeling stronger than ever, and as hyped as I ever was.

What is your go to gear right now for surfing?

Right now I'm kind of in a weird one as far as my go to gear. I've been riding all different types of surfboards over the last few years and to be honest, if the waves are looking fun for airs and what not, I kind of just jump on my Matt Hurworth hi-fi serious riders only surfboard model. That thing is pretty versatile for most boards... Most waves sorry. If It's small, fun finless surfboards, twin fins, single fins, anything weird, stand up body boards, all that shit's real fun. When it gets quite big, I normally just jump on a bigger two plus one…. Yeah, like six, eight something with a bit of paddle power and a little bit of forgiveness when you're in the tube and channels, that's kind of my go to, so it's confusing. If there's waves I'm kind of like running through the garage, grabbing whatever boards I can, and it was probably a stack of eight. So there's no real go to.

Outside of surfing, what else do you spend your time doing?

Outside of surfing, my hands are pretty full. I live on an acreage down in Tasmania. During the summertime, that acreage just keeps you on your feet all day long, trying to maintain grass. The plants and the grass grows and you've got to be on top of that. Just maintenance keeps it easy. I also got a hobby of old vintage vehicles and motorbikes and that same thing with them, maintenance is key. So between all of that, I'm pretty busy. Then I got some other stuff going on as well, business wise. So yeah, it's pretty much go, go, go.

Top 3 favorite waves…?

God, that's a tough one. I got a spot in Sumatra called Mandiri Beach, that place is insane. It's just like left and right peaks that just barrel every morning. Then there's a few other spots, reef breaks around there, which are insane. Temples at Uluwatu in Bali is my second favorite. When that gets really big, it's scary and it's challenging…shallow really gets you going. Then… I don't know? I like surfing my back side on Long Point, Australia…So any Long Point right hander backside on a twin fin or something weird is like really, really fun. Cabarita Point….no I'm kidding. That's where I grew up. It's super fat, but yeah. It ain't the best.

Is there anywhere on the planet you haven’t traveled to that you want to check out?

Yeah, definitely. I want to head up to Alaska one day, check out what they got going on there. I don't know, the cold water travel trips are some of my favorites, I've been to Norway, Scotland, Ireland, all those joints and yeah, it's really cool. It's just a nice vibe. Canada was really fun, but yeah, Alaska full snow, that'd be pretty amazing.

What are your favorite items from Stance?

Everything. But my go to would just be, the plain black socks, plain white socks, just your basics with a couple of stripes up top and yeah, just the basic underwear too, the blacks. But I wouldn't mind making something with Stance soon. Some flames could go pretty huge or something a little off beat. We'll see.

What can we expect from Chippa in 2021?

I've been working on a few things, got some stuff coming out with Stance very soon, including a bit of surfing, board talk and vehicle talk. I'm going to showcase what I've got in my garage and yeah, a couple of beaches that I normally surf out on different boards. They'll be dropping pretty soon. Yeah. Just your standard, I've got a couple of movies in the work and just continue to try and hustle. I'm back at it, it's my first year back after being out of the water for a year so we'll see how we go. Peace…