‘Eddie’ gets green light; Preparations underway for Thursday start
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARADVERTISER.COM
People lined Kamehameha Highway and Waimea Bay Beach on the North Shore on Feb. 10. Traffic moved slowly on this stretch of Kamehameha Hwy. between Waimea Bay and Shark’s Cove.
Organizers of the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big wave surf contest have given the event a green light, meaning if conditions are right Thursday morning, the contest will be a go for only the ninth time in 30 years.
A mini-city was being assembled at Waimea Bay as grandstands were set up for the invitational big wave contest that is only held when waves are consistently 40 feet for six to eight hours and conditions are ideal for big wave surfing.
A final call on whether the contest will begin at 8 a.m. Thursday will be made at 6 a.m. Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the contest said in an email, that the surfers invited to participate were notified Tuesday night that full preparations are underway for the start of the contest, should the giant waves of 40 to 50 feet arrive as expected.
Waimea Bay will be closed from sunset today through 5 a.m. Thursday and the city and state are preparing to handle the crowd that could top 30,000 people on the North Shore.
Spectators are encouraged to walk or bike to Waimea Bay.
State crews were putting up barriers and signs along Kamehameha Highway today.
North Shore drivers will face parking restrictions on Kamehameha Highway leading up to and during the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau surf tournament.
No parking will be allowed on either side of Kamehameha Highway from Iliohu Place to the Saints Peter & Paul Mission starting 10 p.m. tonight through the tournament’s duration, according to a state Department of Transportation release.
Any vehicles parked there will be towed at the owner’s expense, and if the Eddie doesn’t go then crews will remove barriers blocking parking there as soon as possible, the release stated.
The DOT is also canceling lane closures for utility and repair work on Kamehameha Highway along the North Shore, it added.
TheBus is adding additional bus service from Ala Moana Center anthe Alapai Transit Center to the North Shore starting at 5 a.m. The extra bus service will run on Route 52, Honolulu-Mililani-Haleiwa and Route 55, Honolulu-Kaneohe-Haleiwa.
Traffic is expected to slow the bus service and riders should allow for extra travel time.
Contest organizers are not providing private shuttles and are encouraging visitors to use TheBus.
Special duty police officers will be directing traffic around Waimea Bay.
A giant swell with waves of 40 to 50 feet is expected to arrive starting today. The surf could potentially run up over roads and cause coastal flooding, the National Weather Service said. It is expected to peak Thursday morning.
“Significant beach runup and coastal inundation can be expected with this swell especially near times of high tide,” forecasters said.
The National Weather Service said waves ahead of the peak of the swell have reached buoys north of Hawaii and appear to be rising in line with computer models. But contest organizers will not have a good idea of wave heights on Thursday until the peak of the swell hits buoys tonight.
The high tide Thursday at Waimea Bay will be at about 5:18 a.m. and and 5:54 p.m.
Bob Burke, a meteorologist with the Honolulu office of the National Weather Service, said people who are on or near the shoreline on the North Shore should be aware that the very large waves could sweep up the beach, even in areas that appear to be dry.
Contest organizers encourage people to heed advice from lifeguards, noting that Aikau was a lifeguard.
People wishing to pay tribute to Aikau and to Haleiwa big wave surfer Brock Little, who died of cancer last week, are encouraged to bring a ti leaf.
If the contest is a go, it will be broadcast on the Internet on the World Surf League website and WSL mobile app. It will also be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network and on Oceanic Time Warner Cable channels 250 and 1250HD.
People planning to drive up to North Shore tonight should prepare for rain and cool temperatures. The forecast calls for scattered showers after midnight with low temperatures between 56 and 68 degrees and northeast winds around 10 to 15 mph.
Thursday should be sunny and breezy with some isolated showers in the morning, east winds of 15 to 20 mph and highs between 70 and 80 degrees.
The Eddie has been held only 8 times since 1985. The last time it was held was on Dec. 9, 2009.
Twenty-eight invited surfers will surf twice, in separate rounds in seven man heats. Surfers can ride up to four waves in each heat and the top four scores will be totaled to determine the winner. There is no elimination in the contest and anyone can win, even in the last round, if they ride a big scoring wave.
Judges will score each wave based on size, risk and control.
If the Eddie is not a go Thursday, another giant swell is forecast to arrive starting Monday and peaking Tuesday.
But the holding period for the Eddie lasts only until Monday, so it could arrive one day too late to hold the contest.
28 responses to “‘Eddie’ gets green light; Preparations underway for Thursday start”
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Eddie would have gone yesterday. Clearly he surfed because he enjoyed it. I am not convinced he did it for the spectators, acceptance, approval, or commercialization. I remember the sad day as a teenager when he paddled to help his crew members and was never to be found again. A brave Hawaiian.
Never ever leave a capsized boat. At’s why the rest of the crew survived.
Sad. But very true.
If I recall correctly, they did not have a radio or escort boat at that time.
The Captain should have been charged with negligent homicide and going to sea in bad weather.
Are you kidding? So…every sea-going disaster is the captain’s fault and he/she should be charged with criminal negligence? C’mon man. Sometimes Mother Nature has other ideas.
It was not the captains decision. Eddie did go!! That is what lifeguards do!!!
the eddie WILL GO on thursday
can I take money to the Bank on that?
Watch, my boss will call in sick tomorrow…….
It would be so cool to have the Eddie go! 10-15mph easterly winds forecasted will make for good conditions. Keep your fingers crossed.
Eddie should have stayed. He went and now we have the Eddie. I always wondered why there was even a surfboard on the Hokulea. That board should have never been on the Hokulea.
Instead of telling the masses there is nowhere to park, why not be proactive and create shuttles from a remote location?
Tell the masses your overpopulating ruins everything: no can go there, no can go lanikai..
These open shuttle buses should be FREE and paid by the sponsors of the surf contest. There should be park areas near Haleiwa boat harbor and on the side an area around Sunset Beach. These shuttles should go back and forth from Haleiwa Boat harbor where there is parking to Waimea beach park continue on to the Sunset beach area park and ride, turn around and go back in the opposite direction. Then there would be no reason for spectators to park any closer to Waimea than either Sunset beach park area or Haleiwa boat harbor area. Maybe even limit traffic in that area to residents only, the shuttle bus, Handicap, HPD, Fire dept and media, etc.
In a reasonable world the road would be closed to local traffic only with spectators etc parking at Turtle Bay and Kaiaka Beach Park and the event sponsors providing free shuttles.
Eddie went so others would live – it was his decision, a hero’s decision. So sad he didn’t make it home with his brother sojourners. God bless the Aikau family, this memory of such a tragedy must be bitter sweet. Stay safe out there, and remember – SURF LIKE THE WIND!!!
I prefer heroes who live.
Dead hero or living coward?
Living cowards? Like all the rest of the crew who wisely stayed clinging to the boat?
cholo prefers hot women
Paris Hilton. It’s hot!
Eddy was a hero, but a silly one. Foolhardy decision.
Down to Earth people rates high marks with me.
Eddie sounds like a fun and whimsical surfer to be around. If he had a puppy tail, it would be wagging with joy.
50/50 chance again. Mother nature may change her mind again.
With all the on and off alerts, only Oahu surfers can enter!
Wind, waves and weather look great for the Eddie. Just hope dat river don’t open and fill the bay with brown water and sharks…
And NS routines get cancelled/rescheduled. No Yoga @ 9 @ the Sunset Rec. No Chamber of Commerce meeting in Haleiwa. No Farmers Market in Waimea Valley. Most NS residents stay home … and the businesses in Haleiwa do not do well. People with large yards make good money with parked cars. .. One guy was actually getting $120/car!!