Big-wave surfers got an Election Day treat at Waimea Bay as a powerful north swell that made for messy surf Monday cleaned up and stayed up Tuesday.

Though not monstrous or big enough for a contest honoring Eddie Aikau, the 10- to 15-foot and occasionally bigger sets represented the biggest and best surf conditions so far for Hawaii’s North Shore big-wave season, which is only a few weeks old and had its first thumping swell about two weeks ago.

For Dougal Paterson, riding Waimea on Tuesday was a “landmark” life event. The 41-year-old surfer from Kommetjie, South Africa, had arrived on Oahu on Monday night intending to surf at Jaws on Maui, where the Peahi Challenge contest is slated to be held later this week, and he hoped Waimea would be good Tuesday morning.

It was.

“I stood on the beach in the corner, and I said to my wife, ‘This is the moment,’” Paterson recalled saying before surfing three or four hours on his 10-foot, 6-inch gun. “I’ve been wanting to surf here for 25 years. This is a landmark moment of my life.”

To spectators on the beach who were unfamiliar with large Hawaii surf, riders jumping up to ride down the towering wave faces looked to be fearless or foolish.

“These surfers are pretty brave out there,” said Randy Maurer, a visitor from Boise, Idaho, in town for this weekend’s University of Hawaii football game against Boise State.

“I think they’re pretty stupid,” said Roxanne Coate, also from Boise. “I’ve never seen waves like this ever.”

“Just the power — amazing,” added John Saxton, another Boise visitor.

Paterson, who has studied Waimea and surfed giant and raw waves in South Africa, said the waves Tuesday weren’t particularly fierce, though they were “enough to give you a good hiding” — meaning a beating.

Lifeguards routinely warned the inexperienced away from the water at Waimea, which also has a dangerous shore break.

The city Emergency Services Department said lifeguards rescued five people from the ocean on the North Shore and 13 on the West Shore.

In Haleiwa some retail store operators reported brisker business as the waves attracted more tourists.

Jeff Rozsa at Surf N Sea said there definitely was more foot traffic.

The waves drew a crowd of 50 to 60 surfers around Waimea’s takeoff zone by 8 a.m. And as some of the bigger sets subsided by early afternoon, there were still 30 challengers for the still-pumping waves. Other nearby breaks, including Pipeline and Sunset, did not produce good, ridable waves.

Waves were bigger Monday, but stormy conditions didn’t make for good surfing. Lifeguards figured the swell peaked overnight and left many surfers waiting till first light Tuesday.

Shawn Wolff, a North Shore lifeguard who had Tuesday off, got in the water at about 10 a.m. and caught a couple of bombs before calling it a day at 1 p.m. “The conditions were great,” he said. “It was really clean. There were a lot of people out.”

The big early-season swell also drew Ikaika Kalama, who put his four-man surfing canoe into the water for an afternoon session. “We’re going to pick off some good ones for sure,” he said.

On Hawaii island, county officials closed five beach parks Tuesday morning due to dangerous surf: Richardson Beach Park, Leleiwi Beach Park, Carlsmith Park, James Kealoha Park and Onekahakaha Park.

The National Weather Service forecasts that surf will subside today before a northwest swell builds and peaks Thursday and lasts through Friday. Then another large northwest swell is anticipated Sunday night through Monday.