Australia’s top placed female surfer Tyler Wright will head to Margaret River this weekend as the third round of the World Surf League (WSL) ventures to the shores of Western Australia.
Currently second in the WSL standings, Wright will be looking to utilise her powerful surfing style to attack the barrelling west Australian break.
“I’m stoked to be heading into Margaret River as the leading Aussie and second in the championship,” she said
“At Margaret River, that wave, it’s a lot scarier than you’d expect, you’ve got a lot of elements and a lot of raw Open Ocean you have to deal with.
“It kind of brings up a lot of challenges both physically and mentally because you don’t know if it’s going to be 15ft or half a foot, but every size brings its own challenges and you really have to hone in on your ability to read the ocean.”
Wright has finished runner up on two occasions at the event to Hawaiian Carissa Moore, and will be pushing for victory by drawing on her recent form which saw the Lennox Heads local win the opening round of the 2016 WSL on the Gold Coast.
“Experience at Margaret River is always massive. I don’t think you can ever really know that place too well, being that it’s such raw Mother Nature and you’re coming out of complete Open Ocean and hitting this reef, you just don’t know what you’re going to get," she said.
“The amount of force the waves come down on you with, it’s almost shocking in a way and you can’t handle too many beatings out there.
“But if you read it and adapt to the heat, which generally come with experience, it always gives you a bit of an upper hand.”
As the last Australian stop of the WSL tour, the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro boasts several site options for competitors, with the ‘Main Break’ able to produce excellent waves anywhere from two-to-20 feet.
The secondary location for the event at Margaret River is ‘The Box’ - a break that got its name because it sucks water up so quickly it goes square when it breaks.
The event window opens this Friday and will run through to April 19 with some large swells expected through the region much to the delight of surf fans across the globe.