Spruce and Balsa: Rachael Tilly’s Record-Breaking Third World Title

When Californian Rachael Tilly won her third World Longboard Title last month, she was riding a Martin Shapes board made entirely by hand by Josh Martin. Martin’s hands had crafted every detail, even the stringer, which he built from spruce and balsa.

Rachael won this World Title the most demanding way possible. She surfed up from the first heat of Finals Day under the blanket of El Salvadorian humidity, winning six heats in a row and taking the title. It was the first time any surfer has achieved this. Only once prior has a surfer made it from the first heat of the Finals to claim victory, and that was Steph Gilmore when she won her eighth in 2022, but even that was one heat less than what Tilly surfed for her win.

Rachael, who hails from San Clemente in Southern California, isn’t new to breaking records. When she won her first World Title at 17 years and 352 days, she was the youngest WSL World Champion across any discipline in the ASP/WSL format, a record that still stands.

Following this victory in 2015, when she was doing her homework on the beach, it would be nine years before Tilly would take another event win. In 2024 she took out the US Open and went on to win her second World Title that year. But in 2025 she was only an outside chance going into Finals in El Salvador. In the end, that was all she needed.

Rachael’s WSL season didn’t have the hallmarks of a World Champion exactly. She didn’t win a regular season event, and although she had some finishes that anyone would be happy with (quarterfinals at Huntington and Bells, semis at Abu Dhabi), by Rachel’s standards it was a difficult season.

“I was frustrated by the season for sure,” she says.  “I got quarterfinals at both US Open and Bells and both of them were losses that happened in frustrating ways. The US Open, it was not even knee high and we were just scrapping and those types of conditions, control can kind of go out of your hands. Bells was a horrible loss. I believed I was underscored on my wave and that was a really frustrating loss in the quarterfinals. I needed a 4.7 and I got a 4.6 on a wave I thought should have been at least in the fives, and so did the beach, so did the webcast,” Rachael says.

“I was one of the most stressed I've ever been in Abu Dhabi competing. For my first round heat, I felt like I could not breathe, I was so nervous. With that format, if you fall, it's ruthless. I knew how important the result was, so my relief when I won the quarterfinals was crazy. I was like, ‘Okay, I'm going to El Salvador. Thank goodness,’ all I wanted was the opportunity.”

Tilly came into El Salvador ranked seventh, surfing the first heat of the morning against Australian Tully White and Hawaii’s Kelis Kaleopa’a. The longboard finals format includes the top eight surfers after the regular season, and the first two heats have three surfers with only the winner progressing to the next match. Tilly took the first heat on a buzzer beater and headed into the next round where she faced Chloe Calmon and Hiroka Yoshikawa.

“I set myself little goals,” Tilly explained. “I wasn't thinking ‘okay, this is another step towards winning six heats,’ it really wasn't in my mind. I was just thinking ‘let's just see how far I can go.’”

From here Tilly got on a tear. Her rhythm with the wave at El Sunzal grew and her wave selection was flawless. Every wave she took off on she was able to drive fast off the bottom, draw wide open lines, and link quick, precise, yet delicate footwork. By the time she faced third seed Honolua Blomfield she had momentum and was starting to look like a legitimate risk to take the title. Tilly’s connection with the wave was obvious and her winning record reflects it. In the last 12 months, Tilly has surfed three contests at El Sunzal and won all three (two WSL World Titles and an ISA gold medal).

“Once I won that heat, I broke down in tears,” Rachael describes. “I called my parents and I was sobbing, because it was only in that moment, when I had the Title Matches ahead of me, that I was like, my gosh, now it's up for grabs, now it's technically possible. That reaction was really surprising to me because, of course, I showed up throughout that whole day wanting it, and that's why I showed up, but I think sometimes you can minimize how important it is to you so you can manage the nerves.”

“I think in that moment it was really nice to have those emotions come through, realizing, ‘Wow, actually this does mean so much to me, and I can't believe I have another opportunity to go for it. I can't believe I'm in this position to surf a heat for a World Title,’” she says.

The longboard judging has evolved in the last two years, with high reward for flow. This has seen some different surfers rise to the top, and it has suited Rachael’s style as a surfer. She is incisive in her surfing, never a moment of rest, and it showed on the wave in El Salvador. Tilly’s surfing has grown over the years in a close relationship with Martin Shapes, and a lot has gone into what was under her feet at El Sunzal.

“I rode the same shape board this year as I won on last year,” Rachael explains. “Everything about my board is completely handmade. [Josh Martin] hand makes the stringer with a combination of spruce and balsa wood, hand makes the blank, and hand shapes it by replicating last year's board completely by pencil template and by his hands. The fabric was all hand dyed and hand put together by Hoffman fabric, which adds a special connection to my equipment.”

“Spruce is a really springy wood we’ve used for years because it gives the board liveliness, and my board has a really thick stringer because we were experimenting with adding more wood. Spruce is heavy, so he puts balsa between the top and bottom because it's light and balances the weight. Those materials are crucial to how lively the board looks on the wave, and the spring and speed off each turn is a testament not just to the outline but to the materials the board is made of. I'm really fortunate that Josh is not just perfecting an outline and shape, but also looking at the materials and the construct of the board.”

After the heat with Honolua it was a 2024 title rematch against fellow Californian Soleil Ericco. Ericco put up a fight, but at this point Tilly was unstoppable. She moved on to face number one seed Avalon Gall. Tilly took the first match and only in the second did she start to feel the toll of seven hours in and out of the water and thought, “I definitely need to finish it here in this heat because if I don't, then I think that opens up a bigger door because now I'm starting to go against myself.” And she did finish it. She won six heats in a row in a marathon path to victory, going back to back and becoming the 2025 Longboard World Champion.

“I'm hesitant to say this, but this almost feels like the most important one so far,” Tilly says. “I don't know if it's age, the point in my career, or being the third one, but I think I sit a lot more content in how proud I feel about that. It's not like, ‘Yeah, I guess I got lucky.’ I worked hard and I'm proud that I achieved that. Plus, to join Cori Schumacher, Honolua, and Soleil in that group, that's the best of the best right there. And to now be in that with them, I think that's a huge pinch-me moment.”

In the modern dynasty of Honolua Blomfield, Soleil Ericco, and now Rachael Tilly, who all sit on three World Titles apiece, only one other surfer has won a World Title since Tilly’s first in 2015 (Tory Gilkerson). In the past, Cori Schumacher also won three (2000, 2001, 2010), but no woman has gone four. Will next year be the year we see this impasse broken? Or will we see a new heir?