Owen Wright Focuses On The Positives
There’s Nowhere Quite Like Pipe
Hawaii is one of the world’s most famous locations, and for surfers there’s nothing quite like the challenge of Pipe. Owen Wright and the other competitors on the ASP World Tour will face off at surf’s ultimate humbler, as the season draws to a memorable close with the Billabong Pipeline Masters In Memory of Andy Irons. Wright is currently ranked second and will once again be battling it out with surf’s living legend Kelly Slater, who has six Pipe Masters to his credit.
Slater was beaten in the last finals by recent Haleiwa winner and current No. 3 Taj Burrow, however no one is said to be hotter than John John Florence (No. 35) who recently nabbed the Vance Triple Crown and has had plenty of experience mastering the Pipe having grown up on it’s doorstep.
Here’s the video from the press launch:
There’s been a few withdrawals from the contest with defending champ, Jeremy Flores pulling out as did Mick Fanning, who’s recuperating from a bulging disk in his neck. CJ Hobgood and Adam Melling are now up for Pipe after some mid season re-shuffling. The ASP has also given the wild-card slots to the next surfers in line – namely California ‘wunderkid’ Kolohe Andino and Brazil’sWillian Cardoso. Their inclusion may see one of the more established surfers knocked out of the top 34 qualification.
While much of the elite surfers have been going mano o mano in tiny Haleiwa, and taking on the shifty Sunset for the Vans Triple Crown, Owen Wright has been sharpening his skills in Teahupoo before heading to Pipe.
Wright had this to say:
I love the Triple Crown and the prestige it carries. However 2011 has been a long year for me. The later half of the tour especially, had a lot of events back-to-back. I was exhausted with competing, so I was happy to stay home, hang with my family and go on a surf trip with my mates to Teahupoo.
Wright has been going from strength to strength all season. After receiving 2010 rookie of the year honors, Wright went on to meet Kelly Slater in three epic showdowns and win in both New York and the strategic Lowers ramps. Whether he’s facing surfing’s best, or the biggest bone-crushing bowls, Wright has proven he has little fear in the way of surfing.
It’s a bit of a frantic scramble to catch waves really. It’s so crowded, but if you’re lucky enough to catch one, it has the potential to be the best wave of your life. I guess that’s the lure. The paddle is really easy, it doesn’t break in the channel and the whole way out you’re looking into some of the biggest best barrels you have ever seen. You just can’t paddle fast enough to get out there to get one.
Wright ended up getting some late-season Tahitian 10-footers which some see as a ‘Slater inspired strategy’ who passed on J-Bay in favor of a week of ‘heaving’ Cloudbreak, which led to Slater’s win at Teahupoo.
Wright clearly has his mind focused on the challenges of Pipe:
When I was 15, I watched a guy go over with the lip on a 12-foot wave, I can still see it so clearly in my head. There’s so much talk about that wave and how dangerous it is, but I never listened to it, I always focused on the positives of the wave like getting the chance to get the best wave of your life. I normally stay out there for hours, I love surfing waves like Pipe.
via: espn
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