Life Beyond the Waves

After 12 years of competitive surfing, Dometic Ambassador and Australian surf legend, Owen Wright, retired at The Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, an iconic stop on The World Surf League Championship Tour. Owen is a true surfing legend, having competed in the prestigious World Surf League and earned a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. He is widely recognized as one of the world's best surfers, with an impressive track record that speaks volumes about his passion and dedication. 

But Owen's journey hasn't always been easy. In 2015, he suffered a traumatic brain injury during a training session. Despite the setback, he was determined to overcome his injury and prove to himself and the world that he could continue to push his limits. Within a year, he went on to win the World Surfing League Quicksilver Pro Gold Coast, an incredible feat that left everyone in awe of his resilience and strength. 

Owen recently announced that he would be retiring from professional surfing so he can focus on staying healthy, spending more time with his family, and continuing to explore and enjoy the outdoors. We had the opportunity to ask some questions about his career, lessons learned, and plans for the future. 

Dometic: What inspired you to pursue surfing professionally, and how has it impacted your life? 
It was a collective of things that inspired me to pursue pro surfing. Early on, it was just the sport I chose to do, but then I quickly developed a competitive nature and fell in love with competing and striving to be the best. That’s that part that kept on and will be with me for life. I love trying to be my best at something.  

Dometic: What was your favourite moment or achievement during your professional surfing career? 
Winning the first ever Olympic medal in surfing for Australia was so special! It was absolutely mind-blowing to be a part of the games, let alone win the bronze medal. I even got a ring made up that has the face of the medal on it to remind myself of that moment. 

Dometic: What was your go-to Dometic product during competitions or practice? 
During competitions my go-to product was the drinkware! Whether it was keeping drinks like electrolytes cold or keeping coffee warm, it always had me covered. On beach days or for longer practice sessions, I’d bring the cooler as well.  

Dometic: What is your favourite memory of camping with your family, and how has camping helped you maintain a work-life balance during your career? 
I found camping after I had a major concussion and I found it really helped me balance out my hectic lifestyle of traveling the world. It also brought joy and fun back into my life after battling so hard to bounce back after injury. It's something that I can share with my son and family, and it just grounded us. Being out in nature is the best thing and the Dometic products just allowed the process to be easy and painless. I’m so stoked to have found camping again and I know it will be a part of my future forever. You just can’t beat getting outdoors and exploring. 

Lessons from a surfing legend 

Dometic: Do you have any advice for aspiring professional surfers who hope to follow in your footsteps? 
I would say that persistence and courage were two things that were very important in my career. Along with finding the balance of work and fun.  

Dometic: What are some valuable lessons that you’ve learned from your professional surfing career that you hope to pass on to your children? 
There are consequences to reckless wave selection. When it gets big, pay attention and never forget to wear a helmet. 

Moving forward 

Dometic: How do you plan on spending your time now that you’re no longer competing professionally? 
After surfing competitively for so long, I’m looking forward to some free surfing and getting to some off the beaten track locations to find and surf some perfect waves! …And definitely some family camp trips as well. Perhaps even some family surf camp trips – anything is possible. I also released my book “Against the Water” on August 2nd, as well as a part of a film about concussions that I hope to use to bring awareness to the treatments that are out there, and to spread a positive message. 

Dometic: How do you plan on staying connected to the surfing community? Will it continue to play a big role in your life? 
I will be surfing for the rest of my life. I will be sharing the tips and tricks I learnt along the way with the next generation. Spreading awareness for concussions in surfing is something that I will also naturally be doing.  

Dometic: What kind of new goals and aspirations do you have now that you will not be spending as much time surfing? 
With my book and film, I hope I can be an inspiration and spread hope to all the people out there that are going through something and feel like they can’t get back up. I hope the book and film can act as a reminder that anything is possible if you keep trying.