Molly Picklum has Wanger and Jughead to thank if she cuts through the field to win a surfing world title.
That "screw loose" duo and the rest of the North Shelly Boardriders crew saw plenty in a baby-faced Picklum.
They took her under their wing and urged the prodigy onto some of the scariest waves in the country with a prescience Picklum hasn't taken for granted.
"Those reef breaks off Shelly Beach and Forresters ... very challenging and scary waves," Picklum told AAP ahead of her first WSL Finals appearance from Friday (AEST).
"They were a bunch of screw loose type people ... Jughead he's known as, another guy called Wanger Ace (former WSL pro Adrian Buchan) was out there too and (Picklum's coach) Glenn Hall.
"They pushed me, showed me some videos and said 'this could be you' standing in barrels.
"I was curious from the get-go, went 100 per cent to see how good I could get.
"Other girls maybe they felt weren't welcomed and even still today girls go out to spots only guys are surfing and they're not so welcome.
"But I felt safe and they respected the fact a female wanted to have a look at some of these waves."
The laid back 20-year-old has done the the Boardriders proud in a second Championship Tour campaign, reaching the quarter-final stage in all 10 events and winning at Sunset Beach.
She'll enter the top-five shoot out at California's Lower Trestles - the window opens on Friday - as fourth seed.
Picklum will surf in a sudden death heat with fifth-seeded American Caitlin Simmers for the right to face Caroline Marks.
The winner of that will then surf against Australia's two-time world champion Tyler Wright, with top seed Carissa Moore the final hurdle in a best-of-three battle for the title.
Picklum knows she has a mountain to climb but also that it's possible after compatriot Stephanie Gilmore did it from fifth a year ago.
Jack Robinson (fifth) and Ethan Ewing (third), who appears set to surf despite fracturing two vertebrae barely a month ago, ensure plenty of Australian flavour.
Picklum's appearance caps an emphatic response since missing the cut in her debut season, requalifying on the Challenger Tour and winning Hawaii's standalone Pipe Masters.
"After Finals I'll look back and have the realisation of how far I've come and the difference of what a year can make," she said.
"Also too how quickly you can be back there; there's no taking your foot off the pedal."
Victory from fourth means Picklum would need to win at least five times on the same day to become world champion.
Gilmore laid the mental and physical blueprint out for her though when the pair roomed together at Tahiti's final regular-season event last month.
"She let me in on what she did to prepare and then the actual day, what to expect and the crazy white noise around it," Picklum said.
"So I have an OK idea, but haven't done it yet."
