Meet Moana Jones, surfings’s hottest new talent

By Marc Fontrodona and Ander Ordoño

[{"selector":"#anim-427ee2df-db60-405f-a973-95dde1de3784","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 158.37886%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] The 22-year-old won the Billabong Pro Pipeline, the first event of the new World Surf League season.

[{"selector":"#anim-36f73165-679e-4ba1-9f35-14f166ea5068","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 158.37886%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] Her landmark win was the first all-women event staged in Hawaii on the biggest and most fearsome surf in the world.

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[{"selector":"#anim-560a4987-7537-4e78-80f8-b15b6edd3534","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, -201.82148%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] She beat five-time winner Carissa More in the final claiming: “I can’t believe I beat Carissa, she’s my idol and favourite surfer”.

[{"selector":"#anim-24590fe6-27c3-480f-88c8-2ab2c1d83638","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 156.73954%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] Being a local was key to her victory as she was born in North Shore and spent her life growing up by the sea.

[{"selector":"#anim-60f74e56-0e9c-403d-9bf2-56638dabcc47","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 158.37886%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] She has earned the respect of a highly-dominated male local scene and is one of the two or three women surfing alongside 150 men.

[{"selector":"#anim-7f3d85fa-6ab2-45c0-8ac2-43b10803f62b","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 158.37886%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] Ahead of the Pipeline event, Jones generated online notoriety…

[{"selector":"#anim-33beb1eb-4a04-41dc-b8e1-2a41728d1337","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 145.89688%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] In a prior event, she accused the then world number 3 of ‘stealing’ a wave and forcing her onto a coral reef - insults were exchanged out of the water…

[{"selector":"#anim-816f09c7-a2b1-494f-89a8-7f83db63e0fb","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 158.37886%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] In an irate Instagram post, Jones blasted Tatania Weston-Webb stating: ‘u aren’t earning ur spot, u are paying someone to help u get waves’.

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[{"selector":"#anim-0b3cfcda-1f80-496a-b785-4049c2b3776e [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(41.47727237215909%, 0, 0)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"fill":"both"}] [{"selector":"#anim-ffe5b438-d92d-4f7d-86d3-8ab69d0ea03f","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(0px, 182.96903%, 0)","translate3d(0px, 0px, 0)"]},"delay":0,"duration":4000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(0.2, 0.6, 0.0, 1)","fill":"both"}] Jones has also gained fame away from the water, being the first ever graduate from the local University of Hawaii in ‘traditional’ medicine.

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