It took a couple of days to for the collective surfing world to find out Kelia “Sister” Moniz won the ASP Women’s Longboard Championship at the Swatch Girls Pro. Perhaps it was due to the Facebook ban in the People’s Republic of China. Or, maybe the first jewel of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing overshadowed thesingle-event longboard championship. Whatever the reason, Kealia’s first world title at the age of 19 is a milestone achievement.
When she was born it took a month for her parents Tammy and Tony Moniz to name Kelia so she inherited the nickname “Sister” from her older brother, Micah, during those four weeks. The Hawaiian/Japanese/Chinese/Portuguese/Irish longboarder’s first name is actually Greek for “beautiful.”
Although she splits time between Hawaii and California these days, Sister still considers Honolulu home. ESPN caught up with Moniz in Waikiki during a Roxy beach day to talk story about the Chinese surf scene, the world title, her legendary father, Tony, and what makes longboarding so cool.
What’s the surf scene like in China?
There’s no scene. It was only us, who flew in for the contest. The surfing scene is very new to their culture and that’s why they’ve been running events in China to kind of grow the sport within their culture. There’s so much potential there to be world class surfers because there are waves all over Hainan Island. We only surfed three spots on that island and there are so many pockets that are constantly breaking that nobody really knows of. They kind of keep it a little secret, but for the most part the Chinese government is trying to build a tourist attraction with Hainan Island and I think surfing can be a really big part of that.
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