#EddieWouldGo

February 25, 2016 10:41 AM

The Eddie (Quicksilver Big Wave Invitational) is a GO. The competition, held in honor of Eddie Aikau, is held only when open-ocean swells at Waimea Bay, HI reach a minimum height of 20 feet between December and February -- conditions that have occurred only 8 other times since the competition began in 1984. Eddie's brother, and past competition winner, Clyde Aikau called today's conditions "one of the best days I've seen in 40 years." You can watch live here or follow #EddieWouldGo on Twitter. The Eddie, previously.
posted by melissasaurus (31 comments total)

This seems like a good place to share Jack London's wonderful essay about surfing. The man had a way with words.

Where but the moment before was only the wide desolation and invincible roar, is now a man, erect, full-statured, not struggling frantically in that wild movement, not buried and crushed and buffeted by those mighty monsters, but standing above them all, calm and superb, poised on the giddy summit.

posted by Nelson at 10:47 AM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

Watching live, thanks for sharing! Interesting the visceral fear I feel in response to seeing those huge waves, even though I'm safely behind a computer monitor. God, I would be dead in 3 seconds flat.
posted by lock sock and barrel at 11:04 AM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

The Surfline report says waves are 35-40 feet (on the face). Which is bonkers. But at least they don't have to wear wetsuits like at Mavericks.

(I cannot believe how many people are crammed on to the beach. We used to go when I was a kid, both just to go to the beach and also to watch surfing competitions. People would turn out for competitions, but the crowds were nothing like that. And the shore break would be filled with all us little kids, body surfing.)
posted by rtha at 11:05 AM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

All I keep thinking is omg omg OMG move out of the way, jet skier safety patrol people! The wave is going to crash right on you! MOVE MOVE MOVE! And then it doesn't. Because I clearly cannot read waves.
posted by lock sock and barrel at 11:11 AM on February 25, 2016

I'm watching live. HOLY SHIT IT'S INCREDIBLE.

I can't find how the judging is done. What are the judges looking for?
posted by Keith Talent at 12:33 PM on February 25, 2016

Clyde Aikau surfing with. He is 60+ years old.
Thanks for the heads up
posted by From Bklyn at 12:37 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have no idea, Keith. If you find out let me know. Clyde is 66!!!
posted by lock sock and barrel at 12:38 PM on February 25, 2016

You jump off a building and then the building falls on you.
posted by rtha at 12:38 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

I watched that one live, rtha! CRAAAZY!!
posted by lock sock and barrel at 12:45 PM on February 25, 2016

I can't find how the judging is done. What are the judges looking for?

Eddie scoring explained - they look at size, risk, and control.
posted by melissasaurus at 12:49 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

I saw it live too, and made unseemly noises in my office! And then a co-worker (who is watching this in her office) sent me a link to the vine, so I could make unseemly noises again and again.
posted by rtha at 12:50 PM on February 25, 2016

Maybe someone knows - do they wear some sort of padding or protective under armor? Their torsos look bulked up.
posted by lock sock and barrel at 12:50 PM on February 25, 2016

Oh man my productivity this afternoon has been null because this has been completely mesmerizing. The reverence and affection they have for Clyde Aikau (as well as the fact that he's not much younger than my parents and is keeping up) is really heartwarming.

OMG and now's the part where all the jetskis are racing to the beach for safety and I'm reminded of why I'm somewhat terrified of the ocean.
posted by TwoStride at 12:51 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

> Maybe someone knows - do they wear some sort of padding or protective under armor? Their torsos look bulked up.

Inflatable vests, so when they get held under, they can pop back to the surface by pulling a cord and inflating the vest.
posted by rtha at 12:54 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Eddie Aikau gets the Drunk History treatment.
posted by sobell at 12:54 PM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

Watching the bay get closed out like that is terrifying and amazing.
posted by rtha at 12:57 PM on February 25, 2016

Just noticed on the leaderboard that Hawaii (HAW) is listed separately from USA in the "Country" column. I wonder why?
posted by lock sock and barrel at 1:08 PM on February 25, 2016

Just noticed on the leaderboard that Hawaii (HAW) is listed separately from USA in the "Country" column. I wonder why?

locals vs the world, brah.
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:11 PM on February 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

This is a good piece about the mechanics of Waimea. (The navigation is kind of annoying - click through the pages with the previous/next buttons in the upper left corner.)
posted by rtha at 1:15 PM on February 25, 2016

I wonder why?

Tradition held over from before HI was a US state, plus general Hawaiian sovereignty issues. More here.
posted by melissasaurus at 1:20 PM on February 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

This is all very interesting, thank you for the links. And do excuse my sheer ignorance. Not to mention I'm watching this sans audio, so I'm probably missing pretty basic information.
posted by lock sock and barrel at 1:27 PM on February 25, 2016

That second link was really a good read, melissasaurus. Thanks for posting it!
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:38 PM on February 25, 2016

Is the "Freeth" mentioned by Jack London this guy?
posted by atoxyl at 1:57 PM on February 25, 2016

Yes.
posted by atoxyl at 1:58 PM on February 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Wow, I didn't realize that Brock Little died just a week ago.
posted by rtha at 2:06 PM on February 25, 2016

And he was an alternate for this year's competition, despite his illness.
posted by 256 at 2:21 PM on February 25, 2016

Thanks for posting this, I've been watching it all afternoon 🏄
posted by danny the boy at 2:23 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

Holy shit, Kelly Slater goes into the barrel standing up AND COMES OUT still standing up! I let out a whoop when I saw that.
posted by rtha at 4:02 PM on February 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

Aw MANNNN I missed it! I remember watching the last one because of learning about it right here on the blue, and now I see that was seven years ago???

Such an iconic thing I still never would have known about without my dear fellow MeFites.
posted by St. Hubbins at 8:32 PM on February 25, 2016

I played hooky and braved the traffic and the single-lane road from town to the North Shore and parked three miles away and walked to Waimea Bay and holy damn was it worth it. Someone said there were 10,000 people there. Waimea is a small place to put 10,000 people. But you know what's really impressive? 50. Foot. Waves.
posted by deadbilly at 1:49 AM on February 26, 2016 [7 favorites]

I'm curious about the mechanics of not individual surfing competitions but the whole schedule of them. It's clear from the description of how this event happens that they aren't exactly scheduled like Golf -- the first full week in April is the Masters, the first full week in April has always been the Masters, the first full week in April shall always be the Masters -- and even tournaments that don't have the same onerous requirements as this one must have some significant flexibility in their schedules.

How do people know where to go? Are there just months where everyone's probably in Hawaii anyway, because that's when the surf is best there, and other months when they are probably somewhere in Australia anyway? What happens if some less awesome tournament is happening when conditions are right for The Eddie? Do people just abandon the We Have This Every Year About This Time Open and head for Waimea? Does the WHTEYATT Open get rescheduled?
posted by jacquilynne at 8:30 AM on February 27, 2016