[dan ze'l-ik-man]

The Eddie – 2009

Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by Dan Zelikman in Surfer

The Eddie is a surfing competition that celebrates the life of Eddie Aikau, one of Hawaii’s most celebrated individuals. Although the competition was celebrating it’s 25th anniversary, the actual event had only gone off nine times before. That’s because the minimum swell conditions that are required for the event to go live are just plain scary. They need to be at least twenty foot Hawaiian, or forty foot face waves. Although there is no exact way to compare them, forty foot waves basically mean four to seven story buildings of water coming at you at rapid speeds and power. Sound like fun? Anyway, back to the Eddie…

5:00 am. We got up and packed. Kim was barely awake when we jumped into the car. I was too excited to notice if I was tired or not. The day before was big, bigger than it had been in years, but still not big enough. Some people thought that the event should have went off the day before, but they decided to wait one more day. I was happy that they did.

We picked up Neal who was packed to the brim with camera equipment and food, and we headed out. Although we agreed to drive up either way, I was really hoping for the chance to see one of the most unique and memorable sporting competitions to go live. We lucked out.
We parked 3 miles away from Waimea, grabbed our coolers and some bags, and started walking.
Some folks rode bikes.
It was crowded when we got there, at 5:45am. It stayed crowded until about 5:45pm.
It was crowded in the water too. At this point, none of the Eddie competitors were out there yet. Nuts.
Some guys caught some waves. I caught some photos.
A rare single surfer on a good size wave.
Some of these waves were not meant to be ridden.
A room with a view.
A view.
Our view of Wiamea Beach Park below. We were up on the ridge. The mezzanine section, if you will.
More waves.

Dicey closeout potential.
More crowds.
And some more.
Down at base camp.
I wonder if he’s any good? (That’s Greg Long, he ended up catching the event winning wave).
Neal watching another bomb go off.
Another bomb going off.
More rides.

Kelly Slater riding in a 98 point wave! Nearly a perfect ride, all the way into shore.

@NealKido got some video of the memorable ride.

Some more footage captured by our friends over at the Surfboard Shack.

Amazing experience… mahalo.

Tags: oahu surf, surfing