TYLER WRIGHT was surfing before she could walk. Her two older brothers would plonk her on a foam board and send her off. Her older sister Kirby, now 16, can still remember her grin.
"When she was on that little foamy in the whitewash she had the biggest smile on her face," Kirby said. "Have a look at her now - she hasn't lost that smile."
Wright, 14, was smiling non-stop after winning the Beachley Classic at North Steyne yesterday. The year 8 student from Culburra Beach on the South Coast sounded the part, too, trotting out surf staples such as "stoked" and "awesome" after her victory.
In the final, Wright - a wildcard entrant - came from behind to beat Brazilian Silvana Lima. She thought the two "critical turns" on her last wave were enough to win. As the seconds ticked down and Lima could not find a wave, the teenager's heartbeat went crazy.
"The heart rate goes up again, and then goes up again, and then I'm like, 'Arrgh, holy crap, I just won a CT!'," Wright said. "I was like, 'Yes!' I was stoked. I was frothing at that time."
Wright, who became the youngest ever winner of a tour event, was supposed to be in school yesterday. Instead she was ripping up the waves to win $US20,000 ($30,000).
"The school's pretty good, they actually love watching us go surfing," she said. "They love us coming back with great results. I'll probably put [the money] straight in my bank account or invest in something."
As one girl's dream began to bloom, the retiring matriarch of the tour was in tears. Seven-time world champion Layne Beachley, who announced her retirement last Friday, fell off her board on her final ride to be bundled out at the quarter-final stage by Lima.
Beachley, 36, slowly paddled in and stood on the beach for some time, watching the waves. Her boyfriend, INXS band member Kirk Pengilly, soon joined her. He wrapped her up in a towel and held her as she cried. Pengilly told her he was proud of her.
Beachley had wanted this victory badly. Yet again she could not win her very own tournament, the Beachley Classic, specifically intended to be the richest event on the women's tour. It stung. "I'm bitterly disappointed," Beachley said. "I would have loved to have had a fairytale ending to a really emotional week."
Yet the drama of Wright winning her way through trials into the main competition emphasised the need for an event such as this. In the inaugural Beachley Classic, in 2006, Stephanie Gilmore, now reigning world champion, won on a wildcard.
"It's the best result I could have hoped for," Beachley said. "My desire to give back to the sport and give these girls an opportunity is being realised … I'm going to have to enter myself as a wildcard next year."
This was Wright's day. Her dad, Rob, videoing the win and victory ceremony from the beach, spoke of his youngest daughter as being strong-minded with a mischievous streak.
The practical joker of the household (she's known for soaping up other family members' surfboards) has always loved the waves, as do the other Wright kids, Tim, 21, Owen, 18, Kirby and Michael, 12.
"She worked hard for it," Rob said. "She's always been a bit mischievous, a prankster, a bit of a rebel and pretty strong-minded. She knows what she wants. Sometimes that determination doesn't go in the right area, but when it does, she has great success."
Wright eliminated reigning world champion Gilmore, an idol, then downed world No.4 Amee Donohoe in the semi-finals. The grommet was chaired off the beach by Gilmore and Jessi Miley-Dyer after her victory.
"They're, like, my heroes," Wright said.
It will be a few more years yet before Wright is touring the world with those women.
"I've still got a lot of learning to do," she said.
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