Matt Wilkinson

Matt Wilkinson

Born: September 7, 1988

Born Where: Long Beach, CA

Current Residence: Ventura, CA.

Height: 5-11

Weight: 150

Stance: Goofy

Accomplishments: Best Male Performace in a Video and Video of the Year for "First Chapter" at the 2006 Surfer Poll Awards. Named Next Big Thing by Australia Surfing Life Magazine, 2006, 2004. Most Radical Maneuver Award, California Cup (2004).

Rider:

Stare into the big bowl of hot young Australian surfing talent currently on the table and you'll soon find yourself pointing in Matty's direction mumbling, 'mmm... yes... he's one of the best young guns for sure'.

See, Matt Wilkinson is good. How good? Well, the Long Beach goofy-footer just pushed Rip Curl team mate and former World Junior Champion Ben Dunn to the death in the battle for the 2005 Australian Pro Junior Series Title.

Although Dunny finished atop the ratings come season end, Matt sat in first place at one point in the season and convincingly finished second overall. Not bad for his first serious attempt at the heavily contested series.

Season 2005 was made extra memorable for Wilko when he was given a Sponsor Wildcard into the Rip Curl Search WCT at Reunion Island in June.

Paddling out in Round 1 of the Search WCT - his first ever World Championship Tour event - was a nerve-racking thing for Wilko, especially when you consider that the youngster had to face then six-time world champion Kelly Slater.

The 2004 Under 16 ISA World Junior Champion put up a good fight, but fell short of posting enough points to beat Kelly and advance.

In his second-chance Round 2 heat, Matt came up against Australian Joel Parkinson for a spot in Round 3. Like Slater in the heat before, Parko proved a little too strong for his less experienced competitor.

Results aside, just having the opportunity to surf with and against the world's premiere surfers is sure to be invaluable for him.

There will be more opportunities like this for Wilko in the coming years, because we're focused on helping him take on the Pro Junior Series, tackle the World Qualifying Series and then compete the WCT at his ultimate level.

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