Surfing legend Kelly Slater, rising star Moana Jones Wong dominate WSL kickoff event in Hawaii

11-time world champion Kelly Slater in action on Day 1 of the 2022 Billabong Pro Pipeline at Banzai Beach, Hawaii. (Photo courtesy World Surf League)


By Alfred Acenas
EBC Hawaii-Pacific Bureau

HALEIWA, OAHU (Eagle News) – Eleven-time world champion Kelly Slater prevailed against Hawaii native Seth Moniz, 24, to win the Billabong Pro Pipeline at Banzai Beach along Oahu’s North Shore on Saturday, February 5.

In what the surfing community described as “the generational clash for the ages,” the Billabong Pro also kicked off the World Surf League’s 2022 Championship Tour (CT), in which professional surfers compete in as many as seven countries. This season concludes in September with the Rip Curl WSL Finals where the league’s top five men and women will face off for the undisputed World Title.

This is Slater’s 8th win at Banzai. He won his first CT event on the same venue back in 1992.

“I was out there just telling myself, be in the moment no matter how much tension there is, just breathe,” a very emotional Slater described. “I said just stay in the moment, just soak it up, even if he beats you, just love it all. I committed my life to this.”

The Florida native, who turns 50 on February 11, further described his latest victory as “the best win of my life.”

On the following Sunday, it was the women’s turn to take over the waves, competing for the first-ever, full-length CT event at the Pipeline.

Contenders from Australia, Brazil and France were expected to be top finishers.

But it was a wildcard from Hawaii, 21-year old Moana Jones Wong, who outscored five-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist Carissa Moore, 29, in the final round.

“I can’t believe, I’m losing it right now,” said Jones Wong immediately after the final. “This is the best moment of my life. I never thought I would accomplish this.”

“Carissa is my favorite surfer, she’s my hero, I can’t believe this. It’s insane. I always wanted to have a final at Pipe with Carissa,” Jones Wong added, describing her longtime role model.

The next stop for the WSL Championship Tour is only about two miles (1.6 kilometers) south of Banzai Beach along Kamehameha Highway. The Hurley Pro Sunset Beach competition is scheduled from February 11 to February 23.

(FILE) A surfer trying out the waves at Banzai Beach, Hawaii. (Photo by Ron Hamilton, EBC Hawaii-Pacific Bureau, Eagle News Service)

(Eagle News Service)