Eddie Aikau Big-Wave Contest

We got to watch part of "the Eddie" in person yesterday! We didn't really plan it but things fell in place and there we were.

This surf contest only happens when the open ocean swells on the north shore reach a minimum of 20 feet. This means that when the waves break in Waimea Bay, where the competition is held, they have at least a 30-40 foot face. These conditions don't happen every year. In fact, the competition has only been held 8 times in the last 25 years.

On Sunday the papers said there was going to be extra big surf Monday, Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. There was speculation the Eddie Aikau Contest would be held Monday, but our schedules were lighter on Tuesday so we decided we'd go see the waves Tuesday afternoon.

On our way to the North Shore we called the surf report and heard the surf was indeed big and that the Eddie (which had been scratched Monday) was on! We figured traffic would be terrible, but we had a full tank of gas, lunch to eat on the way and a bunch of toys and entertainment for the kids so off we went.

There were cars parked miles away from Waimea Bay. We didn't want to walk that far so we kept driving, figuring we'd just see the waves in passing. We crept along with the traffic, being passed by tons of bicycles, skateboarders and even some of the faster pedestrians. We crept closer toward the bay, around the bay and not too far beyond it we actually found a parking spot! We walked back to the bay which was rimmed with people. The atmosphere was great and there was excitement in the air.

The vantage point from the side of the road would have been the best, but not the best place to hang out with a four year old and a 19 month old, so we kept walking. We ended up on the beach, directly in front of where the waves were breaking and right behind where the surfers entered the water when their heat started. (That's just the shore break in this picture, the big waves were further out.)
The waves looked big, but when a surfer would drop down on a wave it really put them in perspective and you realized just HOW BIG the waves were. We got to see some amazing rides. It was also fun to watch the jet skis navigating the ocean. They would fly straight up in the air just going out over the smaller waves closer to shore. We saw a couple broken surf boards but thankfully no one was injured yesterday.

And what did the kids think of the competition? They weren't terribly impressed, but they had fun playing in the sand.

My little camera could never do justice to the waves and the surfing. If you want to see more, there are amazing pictures here (they take a little while to load but are worth the wait) and a pretty good youtube video here.