Moana Jones Wong
Moana Jones Wong: A Winter on the Edge
Location: Pipeline, North Shore, Oahu
When Moana Jones Wong sits across from you on the North Shore, you can feel the ocean energy still humming in her bones. Known as “The Queen of Pipeline,” she’s fresh off the most hectic stretch of competition in her life, a string of wild swells, personal growth, and even a few pigs crossing the road. We caught up with Moana back in the winter at a friends house—just across from Pipeline—for a rare window into her world
Weathering the Storm
The last few weeks on the North Shore were brutal.
“The past two to three weeks on the North Shore has been absolutely stormy, raining, bad wind, bad everything. Though the waves prior to that were just firing for months, so I was actually really happy that we had a break in the action. I kind of needed that. I just cruised at home and let my body relax, and now it's beautiful out again. It's the nicest it's been for a long time, now it's pristine conditions.”
With pristine conditions back in the lineup, she looked to be smart about the next stretch.
“For the next two weeks, it seems like it's going to be going off every day. So when it goes off every single day, you really have to pace yourself. It's really easy to get super excited and just want to surf all day long, not drink water, eat food, and just get stuck out at Pipeline from sun up to sun down. I have done that in the past, and it's not a good call. So I'm going to try to pace myself and realize that this is a marathon, not a sprint. I'm really excited though, because it looks like the best swells of the entire season.”
A Wild Run of Comps
During what felt like the worst weather, Moana quietly made history—racking up more contest appearances in six weeks than just about anyone on the North Shore.
“I surfed in the Sunset Pro, the Pipe Masters, the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, the Backdoor Shootout, and the WSL Pipe Pro. It started in November, all the way until February of contests. So it was hectic, and I'm just so happy it's over.”
Still, she found joy in unexpected places.
“The waves definitely weren't firing at any of the events. I feel like I probably had the most fun surprisingly at Sunset, which is weird, because it's a right, and it's kind of big, and you can't really rip that hard. I actually had the flu, so I was dying, but I actually surfed really, really well. I also really had fun at the recent Pipe Pro. I kind of surprised myself, surfing Backdoor. I thought I was surfing really well, so I had fun at those two contests.”
Eddie Aikau: A Life-Changing Moment
Nothing hit harder—emotionally or physically—than her invite to the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational.
“This was probably the most challenging winter for me, because I got super sick from October until December, and it just kept going on and off. Every week I would be well, and the next week I would be sick again. So that was really challenging, and I was just so anxious, because I was doing so well. I thought I was going to perform so good this winter, but I was kind of just surviving the entire winter.”
“When the Eddie was on, there were a million thoughts going through my mind. This is the craziest thing ever. I felt like I was going to pass out before I even got in the water. I was literally shaking, and so many people kept coming up to me and trying to talk to me, and I don't even remember seeing their faces. I couldn't actually hold a conversation with anybody, so I had to apologize half a million times and be like, 'Guys, I was having a nervous breakdown.' I was not cool, calm, and collected out there. I was a nervous wreck.”
“During my heat, the bomb sets of the day were coming through. I remember everybody just caught the waves before. So I was the only person out the back, and I was like, 'There's no way I'm catching these waves. I'm going to get out of here right now.' So I asked Mark Healey before I went out there, 'Mark, what do I do if there's a closeout set coming?' Mark said, 'Just paddle as fast as you can towards the channel on the Haleiwa side of the bay.' I was making it over these waves, and all the jet skis are turning around, this wave is going to break on my head, and I somehow made it by an inch.”
“I owed it to myself that I have to go out, even if I knew that this was way out of my comfort zone. I went out and I experienced that raw power. I'm so happy I did, because that was a life-changing moment. It was incredible. It was really special.”
Redefining Her Range
Moana earned a wild card spot in the Pipe Pro, alongside names like John John Florence and Kelly Slater. She used it to show the world she’s more than just a charger in big barrels.
“When I surfed in the Pipe Pro, it was totally the opposite Pipeline and Backdoor conditions that I wanted. I feel like the majority of the world thinks that I'm at a huge disadvantage when the waves are like that, but nobody really knows that I can actually rip too, because I've become known for Pipeline when it's big, when it's above six feet.”
“My first heat, I had Katie Simmers and Isabella Nichols, and I held absolutely nothing back. I went and gave it my all, and I ended up in the elimination round. Then I took first place in that round against Brisa Hennessy and Bella Kenworthy. Brisa made it to the final five two times in a row, maybe three, and then Bella almost won the Challenger Series. So those are two amazing competitors, and that was their forehand, and I did something that I thought I couldn't do, which was beat them in that heat.”
“In the next heat, when I was up against Katie, I actually was winning the majority of the heat solely on doing backside turns. So that kind of boosted my confidence, knowing that I'm not only dangerous at Pipeline when it's six feet and above. I'm dangerous when it's a North-Northeast swell direction at Backdoor. So that definitely opened my eyes and gave me a lot more confidence. I'm excited for the qualifying series, and I'm excited to share more of my performance surfing with the surf world in general.”
From Hawaii to Tahiti
Surfing may be the center of her universe, but Moana’s building something more rooted, too.
“About a year ago, I was telling my husband, 'I kind of want to do something for my own. And he's like, 'You should do a pareo business, because you're always wearing pareos, and we should make them in Tahiti.' That's where pareos originated from, and this is a huge part of our culture. So I was like, 'Oh, that's a great idea!'”
“So he took me to Tahiti, and we found somebody to hand-make them. We make super small batches because we're not into making mass productions outside of what's sustainable. We actually started with only 150, and then we'll order 300 this year. We're not trying to make a huge profit. We're just trying to start a little small business and see what happens from there.”
The first time that I brought my pareos back, I think I gave like 100 away and I sold 50. But that's what happens. I feel like people from Hawaii are the worst business people because we're so generous. We're just free handouts for everybody, just throwing everything away. But it's fine, because this time it's all coming back. The material is 100% cotton, and I put the labels on by hand.”
You can find her designs at moanalanidesigns.com or through her Instagram.
A Few More Things
Favorite Electric Shades?
“My favorite pair of Electric shades are actually these Capri shades. They fit my face perfectly.”
What’s next?
“Today is Super Bowl Sunday. So I'm kind of just waiting for that to start, and I'm going to head out, go catch some waves, because I think it's going to be the least crowded time of the entire week.”
Moana Jones Wong is still just getting started. From wild North Shore winters to wild cards at Pipe, handmade pareos to heavy water, she’s navigating it all with grace, grit, and a deep sense of purpose.
Stay tuned. She’s rewriting the rulebook, one wave at a time.