It has been a short day in the surf for Tyler Wright, but nonetheless a sweet one for the two-time world champion.
Going out first not long after dawn broke off the Portuguese coast the Australian advanced to the semi-finals of the World Surf League event in Supertubos by defeating Hawaii's Gabriela Bryan.
However, the event then went on a long hold due to an extreme low tide before, as an onshore wind picked up and waves continued to decrease, the day's action was called off.
That left a frustrated Ethan Ewing waiting until Wednesday to get back into the water for the Queenslander's quarter-final in the men's event against Morocco's Ramzi Boukhiam.
Wright, operating in three-to-four-foot surf, logged 5.67 and 7.0 in her second and third rides for a 12.67 total, while Bryan could only muster a combined 11.27.
“Because it’s so early and quite dark before we go out, you can't see as much as you would like," said Wright. "I just go off bank research that I’ve done over the last few days.
"Gabs is a fierce competitor and a powerhouse too, so I tried to get a couple where I connected on, then tried to be really smart and selective through the backhand."
The 29-year-old now faces Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb, against whom she holds a seven-two advantage in head-to-heads - but who has made four successive semi-finals at this venue, winning in 2022.
American Lakey Peterson and France's Johanne Defay will contest the other semi-final.
After a disappointing opening two legs in Hawaii the 29-year-old Wright said she was enjoying herself as she adapts to her new breathing system.
During the off-season Wright had seven small screws inserted in her head to expand her airway by seven millimetres after being diagnosed as being "under-oxygenated and semi-suffocating", an operation she described as "life-changing".
After defeating Bryan she explained: "It is like learning to work with a new system, to work with my brain, and it is giving me a lot more choice in how I want to compete. It's frustrating at times but I am figuring it out."
Wright won her first WSL World Tour event aged 14 and she added: "I've been doing this for a while. It's hard. I don't have the same drive as when I was younger (but) with all the changes going on I am a lot calmer most of the time.
"It was the heat the other day that showed me how I love to compete, and I haven't done since probably 2016, 2017 (the two years she was world champion).
"I spoke to my wife (Lilli Baker) about it. She was 'that is the funnest (time) you've had in years'. I was 'yeah'. I love going to work, and I love how I now clinically do that, then leave work at the office and go and live my life."
