Around The World In 80 Waves

Eddie Aikau was the first official lifeguard at Waimea Bay, on Oahu’s North Shore, and at the same time developed a reputation as one of the best big wave riders in the world. Partnering with his younger brother Clyde, the pair never lost a life on their watch. Eddie surfed every major swell to come through the North Shore from 1967 to 1978. He won the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship and in 1978 was among a selected few to join the cultural expedition of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule’a, which set sail from Oahu bound for Tahiti. Hokule’a soon encountered treacherous seas outside the Hawaiian Islands and the canoe capsized. After a wild night adrift, Aikau set off on his paddleboard on March 17 in search of help for his stranded crew members. They were rescued but he was never seen again. The ensuing search for Aikau was the largest air-sea search in Hawaii history.

The Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau event was established in 1984 held at Sunset Beach in his honour. The byline for the event is that Eddie would Go because he would always be up for paddling out regardless of the size of the monster waves. The event moved the next winter to Waimea Bay and has been a fixture there ever since. The competition is invitation only and will only be staged on any given day during the three month waiting period (Dec-Feb) when waves exceed the 20-foot Hawaiian Scale, which for some reason only measures half the height at the back of a wave. That basically means the faces which will be surfed need to be a minimum of 50-foot high all day for the event to even take place.

I am really hoping to catch his while I am on the islands, but it certainly wont be the first year that the event doesn’t take place simply because the waves are not big enough. It is the absolute Zenith of competitive big wave surfing and well worth anybody checking out. I will keep you posted. :o)

http://quiksilverlive.com/eddieaikau/2013/