Looks like the “Eddie” will be a go after all.
Surf company and sponsor Quiksilver and the Aikau family announced in a joint statement Monday that they have resolved their differences, allowing the 2016-2017 Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational to be held this year.
The opening ceremony will be held at Waimea Bay at 3 p.m. Thursday.
Late last month the family announced it was severing ties with Quiksilver over unresolved differences. The family did not give details on their concerns, but said it did not involve money.
In a news release issued Monday, Eddie Aikau’s surviving brothers and sister, Solomon, Clyde and Myra, said they were relieved that logistical concerns and other obstacles that stood in the way of this year’s Eddie were overcome, allowing “the integrity and Hawaiian spirit of the competition” to be maintained.
Quiksilver CEO Pierre Agnes said the new agreement came together in the past few weeks through the hard work of the Aikau family and the World Surf League under the leadership of Paul Speaker.
The World Surf League, the professional surfing governing body, will have a greater role this year, producing the event at Waimea Bay and managing the broadcast and media.
“We have every confidence that WSL’s greater involvement in the event this year will only improve the Eddie’s reputation as one of the world’s premier surfing contests,” Agnes said.
Agnes added that the same stringent condition requirements that were instituted when the Eddie was started 31 years ago will continue this year.
The Eddie, which has been held only nine times, runs only when Waimea surf conditions reach the 20-foot-plus range using the Hawaii scale (which measures the back of the wave), or 40- to 50-foot faces. The Eddie waiting period will begin Thursday and extends through February.
The last competition ran Feb. 25, when local surfer John John Florence rode massive waves to the victory stand.
The latest 10-year contract between the family and Quiksilver expired at the end of April, roughly one month after the Huntington Beach, Calif.-based company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Then, last month, a spokesman said the family was discussing sponsorship by other entities.
“We are proud to see the tradition of the Eddie continue without interruption — a testament to our respect for Eddie Aikau, the Aikau family, the Hawaiian people and the community at large,” Agnes said.
“The WSL has tremendous respect for the legacy of Eddie Aikau and the prestige of this special event in his honor,” the WSL’s Speaker said in the news release.
Organizers also announced the invitation list for this year’s event, which, as usual, includes some of the best big-wave surfers in the world, including defending champ Florence.
This year’s event will feature a first for the Eddie: A woman, Kauai’s Keala Kennelly, is included on the alternative list used to replace injured or unavailable surfers from the invitation list.