Julian Williams is on a mission to make history. The athlete wants to become the first Black surfer from Hawaii to qualify for both the professional longboard and shortboard tours. His pathway to the sport has been a bit different than that of many professionals.
Now a participant in A Great Day in the Stoke, a day at Huntington Beach in California that features the largest celebration of Black culture in America, complete with a competition, swim lessons, vendors, and a DJ, Williams recently stopped by rolling out to reflect on his career thus far.
What should people expect from “A Great Day in the Stoke?”
If you don’t even know anything about surfing, it’s a great place to come and feel welcome to learn. There’s going to be a whole bunch of other different side events going on besides the surfing, as well as free surf lessons. If you want to get in the water, it will be a very safe and calm place for you to feel at ease and figure out, “Hey. What is surfing?” You’re going to see people of color, which is how it started. In Africa, people of color were in the water, riding waves to get to and from fishing ships and channels.
So it’s a really good, culturally appropriate place to come and learn about surfing. Also, it’s a comfortable place to come and meet some really rad people who not only surf but [also] do some really good things [in other areas] of their lives as well.
What do you have coming up after “A Great Day in the Stoke?”
I’m trying to be the first African-American Hawaiian surfer to qualify for both the professional longboard and professional shortboard tours. I’m trying to stay in the water as much as I can, stay on a surfboard as much as I can[,] be in the water almost every single day… I’m looking for support moving forward to be able to travel to these places because a lot of these contests are happening in other countries besides [the United States].
How did you first get into surfing?
I have always been around the ocean, growing up in Hawaii and moving to California a few years ago. But maybe at 13 years old is when I came to learn what surfing is all about… It took my basketball coach. His son had a birthday party at the beach, and he brought a whole bunch of surfboards down and showed us how to stand up and [directed] us in the right direction of how to paddle out, get around the waves, and just [said], “Go and have fun.”
