The bay called the day

Last year, we had the opportunity to witness a pretty rare event around here - the Eddie Aikau Quiksilver Surf Competition up at Waimea Bay. This week, we had another swell come through that looked to be Eddie-worthy. So I rousted the kids at 0330 and we made our way up to the North Shore. We arrived much earlier than we did last year and I was surprised at how easy it was to find parking and make our way on to the beach.


Sadly, the waves were not quite what everyone had hoped and the competition did not take place. But I was able to snag MacGyver's Nikon and get some decent shots. The window for this competition runs through 28FEB so the hope is that another swell will come through that IS Eddie-worthy.


The waves today were in the 15-18' range with the occasional set of 20'+. In order to run the Eddie, the organizers want 20'+ consistently. That didn't happen today. However, just the fact that they set up for this event - the second in two years - is impressive. In the past 25 years, the Eddie has only taken place eight times. For it to possibly happen two years in a row is news-worthy.


I'm working on identifying some of the surfers in the pictures below. If anyone knows their names (I'm assuming they are well-known surfers since rookies don't normally go out and surf 15-25 foot waves at Waimea Bay), please let me know in the comments. Thanks!






































































Pau.



- hfs