What a trail blazer. Rookie of the year, Tyler Wright took home the Womens O'Neill World Cup at Sunset Beach yesterday and she deserved every point she was awarded. 

The 16 yr old combo'd World Champ Steph Gilmore, Hawaiian Princess Coco Ho and Aussie hopeful Sally Fitzgibbons in the first 10 minutes of the Woman's final starting with the events highest single-wave score of 9.57 out of 10 and ending with the highest heat total of 17.24 out of 20.

"This feels pretty cool," Wright said. "I had fun out there and caught a couple of waves and it started really pulsing at the end, so I was happy and having fun. The girls were ripping out there so it was good."

Wright, who took out The Beachley Classic at 14 as a Wildcard, and placed 2nd at Cholo's Cup at Haleiwa two weeks ago, is embarking on her Rookie year competing against the elite in 2011.

After knocking out fellow Hawaiian and defending champion Carissa Moore in the Semi's, Coco Ho the only non-Aussie on the podium, was just happy that she made the final at her home break.

"Tyler (Wright) kind of had it from the start and it was hard to hear out there," Ho said. "I just wanted to get two good ones, but I'm more happy then sad. I finally got a final this year and to finish this well at home, I'm really happy."

Roxy's Sally Fitzgibbons was happy to make the final but is just hungry for a win. And having missed out on ranking in the top four to compete in the Dual for the Jewell showcase heat set to play out at Pipe, from Dec 8-20, she'll have to wait until next year.

With patchy rain and less than inspiring surf it was a great turn out to the girls finals which normally sees the crowd disperse, but people on the beach where whispering amoungst themselves about how impressed they were with the level of girls surfing. And with young guns like Tyler Wright racing up the field pushing the other girls the competition is only going to get fiercer.

"Tyler is really hungry," Gilmore said. "She'll be a good addition to the tour. She's really good and hopefully we'll be pushing each other. We need more girls like that on tour and I'm looking forward to the competition."

It will definitely make the tour more interesting, and come to think of it - more Rip Curl dominated. Well the next round will be anyway - as we see Alana Blanchard, Steph Gilmore, and Tyler Wright (all with Rip Curl) - battle it out against Coco Ho at Pipeline.

Clare Plueckhahn and Fran Derham are ‘CosWeCan' an editorial team and filmmakers. Check out their website here: www.coswecan.com.au