The Queen, about to paddle out. Tony Heff/World Surf League
Moana Jones Wong has had a banner year. And it’s only March. In the final weeks of 2021, she won the HIC Pipe Pro, proving that she was a name to watch at the world’s gnarliest barrel. In January of 2022, she was awarded the win for the Pipeline stop of the Vans Triple Crown. Then in February, she made history by winning the first ever women’s Pipe Pro (as the wildcard). The win found her sitting at number one in the world, despite the fact that she wasn’t even on the Championship Tour. Now, and fittingly, Jones Wong is being referred to as the “Queen of Pipe.”
Born and raised on the North Shore of Oahu, Jones Wong comes from a long line of surfers and lived in the water as a child. She grew up watching her idols compete at Pipeline and although she found the wave terrifying, she knew she wanted to surf it. When she was 12, she paddled out for the first time in three-foot surf and got pounded. She vowed to never paddle out there again.
“But Pipe kept drawing me to it,” says Jones Wong. “It was like Pipe wanted me to be there. I was fighting against it. It was like this battle inside of me where I deeply wanted to be there, but I was super, super scared.”
Over the years, she paddled out occasionally on small days, but when she was 18, she decided it was time to overcome her fears. She wanted to become the first woman to have a solid spot in the lineup. She patiently put in her time, sitting on the shoulder for years before securing herself a position at the peak. She endured countless wipeouts, took waves on the head, and hit the reef numerous times. The wave took her blood, sweat, and tears but eventually, her persistence paid off.
“It’s unbelievable,” Jones Wong says of her recent wins at Pipe. “Every dream that I ever had came true. It was like this huge accomplishment that I always dreamed about, but I never really thought was going to happen.”
The North Shore native humbly acknowledges that she’s being referred to as the “Queen of Pipe.” While she recognizes that her recent victories may have contributed, she attributes the title to the time she’s put in at the wave over the years. Patience is of course a virtue and Jones Wong has it in spades.
“Moana got the title as ‘Queen of Pipeline’ because she has dedicated her life to surfing that spot,” says big-wave legend and Pipe vet Keala Kennelly. “She surfs Pipe more than anybody else does — she has studied that wave and she surfs it beautifully.”
Jones Wong admits that Pipeline is a wave that will always have some level of fear associated with hit. Even though she’s a regular in the lineup, she recognizes its power and danger and has reached a point where she feels comfortable being uncomfortable.
That comfort was tested last year when Jones Wong had an incident with Kauai local Tatiana Weston-Webb at Pipeline. Weston-Webb dropped in on Jones Wong, forcing her to bail her board and land on the reef. Luckily, Jones Wong walked away with just a cut and a tweaked neck, but she was not happy.
“The worst place to fall at Pipe is on the drop because it’s so shallow,” says Jones Wong. “If you have to jump off, you’re probably going to the slam the bottom or get sucked over the falls and then hit the bottom. If I didn’t jump off, I would have run straight into her and we both would have been injured.”
It was a dustup heard round the surfing world as a verbal spat was recorded on the beach afterwards. The two women have been friends since they were groms and Jones Wong openly admits that she’ll always be the first to call someone out when they mess up but she’s also quick to forgive and forget. Although there’s no bad blood between the surfers, the incident surely helped Jones Wong find her voice as a leader in the extremely dangerous Pipeline lineup. It seemed to help her grow. She now has no problem stressing the importance of being aware of your surroundings out there and being extra careful not to drop in. The stakes are just too high at Pipeline – and the consequences even higher. Jones Wong has brought an important female perspective to an otherwise male dominated arena. And she’s earned it.
As the year progresses, Jones Wong plans to continue surfing Pipe and competing, and wants to qualify for the Championship Tour. She’s already proven that she has what it takes to compete against the world’s best, especially in heavy waves, and she’s hopeful to have the opportunity to travel the world on tour.
Hawaii born and bred, Jones Wong is proud of her culture and was the first person ever to earn a degree in Applied Science in Hawaiian Health and Healing from the University of Hawaii. Her senior project was about how surfing connects native Hawaiians to their culture and how it’s more than a sport to the locals.
“Surfing interweaves into everything that is me,” says Jones Wong. “It’s more than a sport or a job. Hawaii really invented surfing and showed it to the world and I feel proud that I can carry on the tradition and represent it in a way that my ancestors would be proud of.”
