If you tuned in to day one of the 2019 Billabong Pipeline Masters, you likely saw Owen Wright donning some shiny white headwear. This year, Wright’s made a point of wearing a helmet at waves of consequence for a little extra protection – recall that he won the Tahiti Pro in a white Gath – which is both an incredibly practical choice on his part and a reminder for the folks at home what the man has gone through to get his surfing back in form.
Back in December 2015, on the eve of that year’s Pipe Masters, Wright sustained a head injury during a multiple-wave hold-down at Pipeline. Details about the consequences of Wright’s accident emerged a few months later in the form of an Instagram post. In March 2016, Wright explained in a caption of himself holding a soft top that he’d caught a knee-high wave but “Couldn’t get to [his] feet. So [he] just layed [sic] there.”
Additional reports at that time indicated that Wright’s head trauma was so severe that he suffered from bleeding of the brain, memory loss, and needed full-time care.
Four years later, and with the comfortability we’ve come to expect of the towering Australian in big surf, Owen Wright is facing Pipeline head-on in an effort to re-write his relationship with the wave. From one of tragedy and injury to one of triumph and overcoming obstacles.
