BY GRAEM SIMS

Owen Wright’s dynamic surfing stands him head and shoulders above the next wave of teen hot shots.

Owen who?

Take a look at this resume. ISA World Junior Champion at under 16s, second by a whisker last year in the under 18s. Runaway winner in 2009 on the Australasian Pro Junior Tour, winning the first five events of the year. At the same time ranked in the top three on the second-tier World Qualifying Series in ‘09, already booking himself a place in the big league of the ASP “Dream Tour” in 2010. Giving everyone a taste of things to come when, invited by his sponsor to compete as a wildcard against the big boys at the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach back at Easter, he knocked out Yank superstar Dane Reynolds in the first round, then nine-time world champion Kelly Slater in the second round. Not bad for a 19-year-old ...

Everything seems to be going right for the tall (185cm), gangly lad originally from the NSW south coast, but lately of the warmer waters of Lennox Head in northern NSW.

What’s his story?

Wright grew up in a surf-loving household in the quiet nook of Culburra, within a walk of the beach and within a short drive of one of the best waves in the country, Aussie Pipeline, just south of Jervis Bay. Nature or nurture? Wright has had the best of both. He is second-oldest of five amazing surfing kids. Elder brother Tim (22) has led the way; younger sisters Kirby (17) and Tyler (15) are already busting down the door on the women’s competition scene; and big tickets are on younger brother Michael (13) – all of them regularly cleaning up trophies in age-group comps around the country (Tyler the Beachley Classic at Manly last year against the world’s best pros). That makes for a couple of proud parents, Rob (himself a keen surfer) and Fiona, who recently moved the tribe to the warmer waters and long-walled point breaks of northern NSW at Lennox Head – which has suited the kids just fine.

It’s the prospect of mastery of another Pipeline that excites Wright now, notably the Pipe Masters in Hawaii this month, the last event on the World Championship Tour (he’ll have to go through qualifying rounds to surf in it).

Wright came to the notice of sponsors Rip Curl in his early teens; at 14, on his first trip to Hawaii, he was famously photographed charging monster tubes at the infamous Pipeline – apparently fearless, but always in total control, with a poise and polish way beyond his tender years.

Who’s he like?

Let’s see: the guy’s polite, not really given to lairising, but still cool, obviously well brought-up, well-spoken, humble about his achievements, flattered by the attention he’s getting, genuinely excited by the prospect of surfing against the world’s best in the world’s best waves, focused enough to be able to channel his energies into competition when so many of his teenage peers lose the plot under that kind of pressure or are waylaid by the peripheral attractions of fame, highly credible with the kids, admired by anyone who can appreciate the skills and raw pluck involved in the world’s best surfing, able to match aerial manoeuvres with anyone in the world, completely at ease surfing the most dangerous waves on the planet, super-fast speeding through long tube rides or slashing through high-speed turns, equally dynamic on forehand or backhand … Owen Wright just may be like no surfer we’ve ever seen.

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