What’s your name and what fills your time?
My name is Lanea Hanalei Mons. I love surfing! When I am not surfing, I love training my dog, playing guitar and ukulele, art, strength training. But most of all, I love surfing!
Anything special going on for this summer?
I had a huge summer of fun waves. There is the USA surf championships at lower trestles which was very fun. I went on a surf trip to Nicaragua with my friends. Then I finished it out with the Atlantic Leg of the WSL Qualifying series. First competition was in Virginia Beach and I made my second QS pro final in 3rd place, which was my best QS result yet. Then the very next week I won my very first WSL event at the WRV OBX Pro in North Carolina. It was a huge win for me since it has such a special place in my heart. I have been doing grom contest since the beginning, Eastern Surfing Association, USA surfing, etc. I joined other first coast legendary surfers Karina Petroni who won it, also Asher Nolan who has won it 3 times, more than any other surfer! I was also honored at the Jaguars opening game and delivered the first Duuuuval cheer. That was super sick!
How do you like living on the First Coast?
I love the laid back vibe we have on our beaches here. We pretty much just love to have fun in the ocean. Everybody is usually pretty stoked to just be catching waves. I like to get out on our boat when its possible, but this summer was a little busy for that. The community is my favorite part though.
Any hobbies or interests worth telling us about?
I have lots of hobbies. I love guitar lately. I started with ukulele, but made the jump to 6 strings on most days and having a blast. Walking and training my dog. Strength training, cooking, art, reading etc. Maybe an interesting aspect of the training, is underwater strength training. It really helps you to stay comfortable in bigger waves on trips. Lots of breath hold type stuff.
Anything else that you would like to tell the community?
We have the best surf community ever. From the beginning of when I decided I wanted to be a competitive surfer, I have been fortunate to have the greatest influences in our community. Evan and Tristan Thompson with Thompson surf school got me ready for all of my first competitions and now I work at their surf school when I can in the summer. Asher Nolan really helped me fine tune my competitive surfing and worked with me on lots of technique. He went on to be one of the USA Surfing Team travel coaches so I was fortunate to work with him there too. He helped me win an individual World Junior Silver Medal in Brazil, as well as a team Silver medal. Cody Thompson got me started on strength training. Dane Jefferys worked with Volcom and now Billabong, but also started the Florida Board Riders, he pretty much runs the best events ever. Wayne Satterwight always is working hard to put the comps on too, and is super fun to surf with, as well as does some amazing board art for me. Kayla Durden now works with the WSL but is always looking out for us hometown girls, she was an instructor at Thompson first school when I first went also.
Surf Coach Motes has 1,000 east coast surfing titles, and is just as stoked to froth out with the groms as ever, he helped me by getting me on the ESA All Star team as a super grom, and took me to Hawaii on some amazing training trips, introducing me to Tamayo Perry. I learned some amazing things about big waves and Pipeline from Tamayao, thanks to Coach Motes. The whole Sunrise Surf Shop crew has supported me since the beginning, and they are just the coolest surf shop ever. It feels like home in there. Daniel Terry with Volcom helped to get me sponsored by Volcom and got me a window advertisement at Sunrise Surf Shop when I was 12, that was so sick. Of course we have the whole Board Riders team! Karina Petroni is a legendary surfer who is always getting us fired up and leading the charge at those events. She is so fun to surf with and absolutely rips!! Then the rest of my dads friends are just the best to surf with, they are more stoked then anyone. They had a group text going, and I took my dad’s phone and renamed the group “40 year old groms”. Its like I have a wave alarm at the house. As soon as a bunch of texts start blowing up his phone, I know theres waves! I also love all the super groms. I try and run a free comp for them whenever I can and give away a bunch of stuff and my old trophies. I call it the Oceanwalk Pro. Its been super busy with comps lately so I haven’t been able to do it, but I’m looking forward to doing it again soon. Oh the Sisters of the Sea crew do the most amazing all girls comp every September. Its really an amazing group of ladies and just the best time. Yeah I love our surf community, its the best. Theres so many amazing people to remember, I’m sure I forgot someone, but I love you all.
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Mike is a native First Coaster and was a leading figure in surfing and skateboarding for most of his life. After promoting music for many years on the local music scene, Mike now brings a unique perspective to FirstCoast.Life as a contributing writer.
