Zack Murphy plans to reach Waimea Bay extra early this morning in hopes of finding a spot on the bluff above the action at the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau.
The 24-year-old surfer and North Shore surf shop worker said he wouldn’t miss the “Eddie” for anything.
“It’s an unofficial Hawaiian holiday, definitely something worth taking off from work or school,” said Murphy, who grew up near Waimea Bay and still lives nearby.
Murphy won’t be the only one taking the day off. More than 20,000 people are expected to converge on the North Shore bay today as Hawaii’s premier surfing event is expected to be held for only the ninth time in 31 years, the last time being December 2009.
Organizers gave the event the green light Monday but will make the final call this morning. Everything looks good, however.
The National Weather Service issued a high-surf warning at 6 p.m. Tuesday and predicted a large swell with wave faces of up to 50 feet would hit the North Shore today. Wind is expected to be light in the morning and become northerly at 10 to 15 mph in the late morning and afternoon.
Those are ideal conditions for the Eddie, which calls for a full day’s worth of surf with a wave-face requirement of 40 feet.
“It has taken us six years to pull the trigger, but this is the first swell we have seen that is truly lining up as an Eddie swell,” the event’s director, Glen Moncata, said on the Quiksilver website.
Moncata and the organizing team this morning will confer with event patriarch George Downing, who will make the final call.
Ready or not, tens of thousands of people and their vehicles are expected to jam Kamehameha Highway along the North Shore.
City officials Tuesday advised spectators to expect traffic delays beginning before sunrise.
The Honolulu Police Department will have extra officers on duty in the area to keep traffic flowing.
“Expect long traffic delays,” police Capt. Gregory Osbun said at a news conference at Ala Moana Beach Park on Tuesday about city preparations. “Our goal is to ensure that everyone who attends the event can enjoy it in a safe environment.”
Vehicles parked illegally along Kamehameha Highway and side streets will be towed because they could force pedestrians to walk in the roadway and block emergency vehicle access, he said. Towed vehicles will be taken to the old Meadow Gold Dairy site near Laniakea Beach.
Osbun said traffic congestion will probably begin about three hours before the 8 a.m. event start time.
Event organizers said spectators should bring their own water and food because there are no food trucks at Waimea Bay.
Keone Downing, 62, who won the Eddie in 1990, said the event is exciting for both spectators and competitors.
“The energy is unbelievable,” he said. “When you’re a competitor on water, you can feel the people on land. You can hear them at the point. They’re letting you know when the sets are coming in that you cannot even see yet.”
He recommended parking at a beach park and biking to Waimea Bay.
Parking will not be available at Waimea Bay, but paid parking is available at Waimea Valley. Quiksilver is also offering a free shuttle service from Kaiaka and Turtle bays.
Department of Transportation Services Director Mike Formby said TheBus added buses on routes 52 and 55. Four buses leaving from Ala Moana Center between 5 and 6:20 a.m. will go to Waimea Bay without requiring a transfer.
Buses operate in the same traffic as everyone else, Formby said, adding, “Try to go early.”
Paramedics will be posted at Waimea Bay for spectators and competitors, and lifeguards will begin patrolling the ocean on personal watercraft at Waimea Bay and outer surf breaks from 7 a.m.
“We expect surfers to be out in the water at the outer reef the entire day,” said Honolulu Emergency Services Department Director Mark Rigg.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said contractor Grace Pacific agreed to halt a repaving project on Kaukonahua Road on Wednesday without cost to the city, giving motorists and emergency responders another route in and out of the North Shore.
“Be careful and listen to the lifeguards,” Caldwell added. “Be patient, be cooperative, be part of the experience.”
The city also postponed garbage and bulky-item pickup scheduled for Wednesday from Haleiwa to Comsat Road. Residents should leave their bins or bulky items out, and the city will resume pickup Thursday. Officials hope to catch up by Saturday.
In addition, the state Department of Transportation is postponing previously planned work requiring lane closures on North Shore roads, and electronic message boards will be set up at key locations on the island to alert motorists of heavy traffic on the North Shore.
“It’s going to be crazy, insane,” said surfer Joey Johnston, 18. “It will be loud, exciting — guaranteed you’ll feel the ground shake when the water hits the rocks.”
Johnston, who works at the North Shore Surf Shop across from Shark’s Cove and lives nearby, will be riding his bike to work today. But even he is expecting a tough go of it.
“The bike path is going to suck. There’s gonna be a lot of people,” he said, adding, “I need a bell.”
Murphy, the surfer who witnessed the 2009 contest, advises spectators to avoid setting up where the rocks are wet. In fact, he said, don’t get within at least 20 feet of wet areas.
In 2009 he watched as a woman carrying expensive-looking camera equipment got too close and was sucked into the river that flows out of Waimea Bay.
“She had to be rescued and her cameras were ruined,” he said.
When the waves are pounding on the North Shore, that usually means good business for merchants as tourists and residents alike are drawn to the area. On Wednesday merchants and their employees were weighing strategies for how they will be getting to work.
That’s no problem for Samantha Baglioni, who works at Seamaid’s Beach Boutique across from Shark’s Cove and just up the street from Waimea Bay. She lives up the hill from her workplace.
“There’s no way I would drive,” she said.
Baglioni said she can’t wait for the energy and excitement of the day. She said friends from California and Molokai were flying to Oahu on Tuesday just to watch the Eddie.
“It’s a big deal, a really big deal,” she said. “I’m excited.”
Across the way, Lionel Uhlmann of Kau Kau BBQ Truck was preparing for today’s action and looking forward to hordes of hungry people.
Uhlmann grew up on the North Shore, and his truck found a permanent home in the food truck lot across from Shark’s Cove three months ago.
“It’ll be crazy,” he said. “I’m just hoping for a good day.”
Before opening for business Tuesday, Uhlmann said he was already thinking of staying overnight at his food truck to avoid the morning traffic jam.
“I have a cot in the back,” he said.
