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In December of 2015, Owen Wright suffered a life-changing injury at Pipeline. It wasn’t the biggest of waves, nor was it the heaviest of wipeouts. But the injury was bad—really bad. It was just before the trials for the Billabong Pipe Masters. He hit his head on a wipeout, got held down for a few waves, and decided that he wasn’t feeling all that great. He staggered up the beach to the Rip Curl house where he laid down and had a nap. Soon afterwards, however, it was clear something was wrong. He was taken to the hospital where it was revealed that the rap on the head left him with a severe concussion, bleeding, and swelling in his brain. He disappeared from the public eye and got on the long road to his recovery. As it turns out, it wasn’t just the one injury, but a series of concussions leading up to it.
“With concussions, often it’s not just one concussion,” he explained to the Olympic Channel Podcast. “It’s a lead up of concussions. That was the event that sent it over the edge. I was on the inside ledge. It was about 15-foot plus — you sit there when it’s about 10-feet — but I was sitting there to catch the double-ups and the gnarly ones. You don’t really want to be there when it’s that size, but you take the risk and you run a bit of a gauntlet, so to speak. I just lapsed concentration for a split moment and a huge wave came through. It was about a 15-foot wave and it was about a 10 wave set, from what I heard. I lapsed concentration and I tried to duck dive this wave. There’s absolutely no chance of duck diving a wave that size.”
The recovery was a long one, and it’s only in recent months that Wright appears to have returned to his former self. “I had to learn to surf again and regain all those functions,” he said. “I struggled with a lot of things at the start. I’m still processing all that now. I know it’s four years later, but it’s just been such a long time. I took on so many challenges to regain my life to the level I have now.”
Both Owen’s head injury and Tyler’s sickness have been at the center of a few swirling theories, and for the most part, questions about them have been answered only with vague responses from brand representatives. Owen also addressed Tyler Wright’s somewhat mysterious absence from the tour. His sister dropped off with a strain of the flu in July of 2018, but since then, reports on her health have been vague and few and far between. “I’m happy to report she’s great, Owen said. “She’s happy, healthy, and surfing every day. I can’t wait to see her back. She’s so fired up and she’s finally turned that corner with that influenza and the fatigue that she had afterwards. It just was relentless for her. She just couldn’t turn that corner, and then about three months ago she turned it. Lookout when she comes back.”
