Over 8,000 Oahu residents, including BYU–Hawaii students, flocked to Waimea Bay Tuesday night and early Wednesday on Feb. 10 in anticipation of the Eddie Aikau Surfing Invitational, only to find out the event had been called-off.
The Aikau Invitational, known as “The Eddie,” is among the most esteemed surfing contests in the world, wrote Surfer Magazine. As explained in ESPN’s documentary, “Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau,” the event is named after Eddie Aikau, a pioneer of big-wave surfing and the first lifeguard on the North Shore of Oahu.
Mark Healey, a professional big-wave surfer who was set to compete, described the Eddie as “by far the biggest event, if you could say, the Super Bowl of surfing. It’s the most prestigious event of surfing on the planet.”
The Eddie stands apart from other surf competitions, such as the Volcom Pipe Pro and HIC Pro in that it is held far less frequently. Glen Moncata, event director, explained, “What we need is eight hours of solid 20 foot surf, 40 foot faces, and unfortunately this storm got pushed way up north of us, so we are just not going to be able to run today.”
The last time The Eddie was held was in 2009. The rarity of the spectacle made it a significant temptation for students and staff alike to forsake classes and assignments.
Professor Marcus Martins, Associate Dean of Religious Education from Rio de Janeiro, explained, “I didn’t see the reason to cancel class, especially considering people could watch it online. And then, of course, there would be a massive traffic jam. In 2009, news accounts said that it took people 5 hours to get to Waimea. So, I knew that there would be people who would eventually say, ‘You know what, forget about it. I’m heading back to school, I’m going to go to class.’”
The temporary diaspora of students at Waimea did end up returning for class, as Professor Martins had predicted.
Yoonji Lee, a junior majoring in political science from South Korea, grieved, “I was already there; I was really excited. I spent the night there, and I was on my phone checking all my SnapChats, and my friend said, ‘Oh, it’s cancelled, and everyone is going back.’ I was like, ‘No way…no way!’ I was ready to skip class, but I ended up not doing that. The contest is not going to happen again for a while. Yeah, I was sad. That was it. Life goes on.”
The contest would have proceeded as expected had the awaited swell arrived more punctually. According to buoy readings recorded by the National Weather Service, the expected waves ended up arriving 8 hours later than what had been predicted.
Andrea Marshall, a senior from Florida majoring in graphic design, lamented, “The first thing I saw when I woke up was that the waves were just… flat. So, I already had this gut feeling that it was cancelled. As people told me that it was cancelled, I was just so bummed because we had slept out there overnight. It was a bummer, but, I mean, you can’t make the waves.”
Quiksilver has hosted The Eddie only eight times in its 31-year history, reported the Honolulu Star Advertiser. Conditions have to be just right. Even though the contest was cancelled, optimism was not entirely lost amidst the giddy crowd of spectators.
Rachel Reed, a junior majoring in English from Utah, reflected, “Even though it was cancelled, it was nice for people who went early to camp out, because… It was sort of like a community feeling. It was nice because people had bonfires on the beaches and people were partying and having a good time, and even though the Eddie didn’t happen, it was still a nice thing for people to come together and bond over an event that never happened.”
“It was a bummer the Eddie was cancelled, but helping two kids make their first s’mores made the trip worthwhile,” said Caleb Bow, a junior studying interdisciplinary studies from California. Bow assisted a Brazilian family during their trip here to Hawaii for the seasonal surf competitions, even inviting them to his ward’s fast and testimony meeting. The majority of the meeting was in Portuguese, as the family spoke very little English.
Maui Now cited the contest’s organizers, explaining that an active El Niño season has the potential to produce monster swells throughout the remainder of February, increasing the likelihood of ‘Eddie-worthy’ conditions.