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Tyler Wright Talks to Tracks

The Roxy Pro Winner on pulling slob airs, motorbikes and a dog named Mortimer.

When Tracks catches up with Tyler Wright a couple of hours after her Roxy Pro win, she is lying on the grass hill behind Snapper Rocks, basking in the afterglow of a dramatic, last minute victory. Alongside her more stoic surfing brothers, Mikey and Owen, Tyler is like a fizzed can of soft drink; her vibrant personality threatening to bubble over at any moment. However, despite the typically positive outlook on life, she admits that at the end of last year she was almost ready to throw in the towel on her competitive career at just 18. “ I just felt over, it,” suggested the surfer who won her first WCT event as a 14-year-old wildcard. Below, Tyler tells how she kept the faith to claim a last minute victory over Sally Fitzgibbon and why a motorbike and a labradoodle named Mortimer, helped her rediscover the fun in her surfing.

With just over a minute and half to go you were on the back of the ski heading back to the lineup and you still needed a big score? How did you maintain faith in your ability to win?

I knew what I had to do and I knew the wave – I’d been chasing it the whole contest. Clint Kimmins was my jet ski driver today and he was also my driver two years ago when I took off on a wave behind the rock at Snapper in the final against Carissa (Unfortunately Tyler’s 2009 barrel didn’t count because Carissa had priority and dropped in).

This year Clint was like ‘ Get on, we’re fangin’ it out there, use your legs as shocks.’ He was like ‘ You got this Ty, you know what to do.’ Sal had priority and I was thinking,

‘How am I going to do this?’ but at no point was I nervous … I still believed in myself and that if a wave came through I was definitely going to do it. Somehow Sal wasn’t into the wave and when I took off on it, I was thinking, ‘Are you kidding me? I’ve been looking for this wave all contest’.

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The forehand hack that did most of the damage for Tyler Wright in the final of the Roxy pro. Pic: ASP

Prior to paddling out you would have seen your brother win the Super Groms final. Did you draw confidence from that?

I was watching him and getting ready for the final, I wasn’t really listening to any of the talk or the scores; I was just watching the surf and where Mikey was picking off his waves.

Did he get a chance to say anything to you?

When he came in he just gave me a look – a glance over his shoulder that said ‘ you better win’.

Is family support an important part of your success?

I can’t put into words how much I love my family. My family and the people I surround myself with know the ups and downs that I go through and they put up with my shit the whole time.

What are some of the highs and lows that you have been through?

At he end of last year I wasn’t really into it any more. Even in the off season I barely surfed. I was just cruising the whole time.

So, you were almost ready to throw in the towel on your competitive career at 18?

Yeah kind of, I was almost ready to go and do something different. That’s where the full family thing kind of kicked in … Owen especially was important at that time because he knows the ups and downs that competitors go through.

He said to me you’re 18 and that no kid has a life where you get to travel the world and do what you want like you do. He also suggested I stop doing what other people want you to do and do it for your self.

How did you take that on board?

Well, my pre-season was more about focussing on myself.

I know that sounds very selfish but I went to training and went to a nutritionist and I got a motorbike, ‘ cause I wanted a motorbike … a lot of people might have said ‘Don’t get a motorbike because it’s a career-ending move.’

But I can’t just wrap myself up in bubble wrap. I just wanna do, what I wanna do.

Tell us about your motorbike.

It’s sick, I love it.  It’s only a little 140 Kawasaki but I have so much fun on it. I love going fast and we have this one little jump at home on our six-acre block at Boulders… I like to try and get bigger air off the jump and I did a little one – hander the other day… I also went to the snow at the end of the season, which was great.

So, you’ve introduced some fun back into your life?

Yeah, kind of – everything was just starting to get a little heavy for a while and I just really wanted to get back to loving surfing. I got a little puppy too, his name is Mortimer, he’s a little labradoodle. He’s a lot like me, he’s a weirdo.

wright3729rgc13kirstin

Tyler Wright hoisted high by her brother Mikey as she celebrates victory. Pic: ASP/Kirstin

Despite the motorbike and the dog you still make time to train though?

My trainer, Brodie, is so good with me and he cops all my shit. You don’t even want to know all the stalling and tactics I throw at him. Training is a muck around session but it’s also hard – he kicks the shit of me.

What are some of the specific things you have been working on?

Lately we have been doing a lot of box jumping, which involves trying to simulate what I do on a wave – so I’ll go around in arc jumping on boxes that are all different heights and I’ll do that on different surfaces aswell.

We also did a lot of work building up the lactic acid tolerance in my legs – that’s really specific to this place. I realised that when I caught my first wave of the contest. I was like ‘ I’ve been training for this and the lactic acid is still there.’

What is special about winning at Snapper?

I’ve always wanted to win this event because of the memories I have of this place. When I was younger we use to come up here on trips and all I can remember is me and my little brother surfing eight hours a day – just doing lap after lap, coming in to eat and doing it all again. It’s also my favourite wave on tour.

The standard of surfing has obviously improved dramatically on the women’s tour. What do you need to do to distinguish your surfing from the other girls on tour now?

I like to push the limits although I didn’t really get the chance to push them in this contest. I like doing slob airs, I like doing air reverses – they’re coming along; they’re maybe not as consistent as the guys but they’re definitely in the repertoire.

It seems like the judges are not rewarding manoeuvres with a high degree of difficulty unless they are done well. It’s not enough to just do a reverse or an air; it has to be performed well and in a critical section to get a score.

I completely agree. You saw Sal do a reverse on her last wave and I just did a bunch of turns but I got the score by managing to link several turns with flow and ensure there was some variation.

I feel like the judges are on it when they score it like that. You can throw a reverse but unless it’s like a proper air reverse or a proper slob you are better off sticking to hacks or man turns as they get called – Steph for example does them with pure grace.

How are you going to celebrate?

With pizza and ice cream – Kirby, my sister, Brook Farris, Mikey and my manager Kurt Jacobs will all be there.

I have been seeing a nutritionist and I don’t really eat that stuff anymore but I’ve got to do something reckless, ha ha.

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