BLOG: Luke Shepardson crowned winner of ‘The Eddie’
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Surfers Kai Lenny, left, Aaron Gold, are cheered on by Jake Maki at Waimea Bay during the 2023 Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surf contest today.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
John John Florence, who won the surf contest in 2016, catches the first wave of today at the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surf contest at Waimea Bay.
CLARK LITTLE VIA AP
This aerial image provided by Clark Little shows the crowds gathered for the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surf competition at Waimea Bay on Oahu’s North Shore. One of the world’s most prestigious and storied surfing contests is held today for the first time in seven years. And this year, female surfers will be competing alongside the men for the first time in the 39-year history of The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Spectators crowd the beach and city lifeguards prepare for a busy day early this morning at Waimea Bay on Oahu’s North Shore, hours before the start of the the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Spectators crowd the beach before dawn at Waimea Bay on Oahu’s North Shore, hours before the start of the the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational today.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Clyde Aikau sits alone early this morning at Waimea Bay on Oahu’s North Shore, hours before the start of the the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational. Aikau is the chief organizer of the event and the brother of the legendary Hawaiian surfer and waterman.
Editor’s note: Watch a replay of the livestream of the 2023 Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational above, courtesy surfline.com, and click here for curated live tweets of the contest from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
The Eddie 2023 – Curated tweets by StarAdvertiser
Honolulu Ocean Safety lifeguard Luke Shepardson today knocked out defending champion John John Florence to win the 2023 Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surf contest at Waimea Bay.
>> Honolulu lifeguard Luke Shepardson wins ‘The Eddie’ contest
Thousands of surf fans descended upon Oahu’s North Shore today for the tenth running of the contest. Florence claimed second place and Mark Healey won third place.
“The Eddie” was last run on Feb. 25, 2016, when Hawaii’s John John Florence won the contest, which was then called the Quicksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau.
This year’s field will include about 40 of the world’s top big-wave surfers, and for the first time, six women.
The contest was created in 1984 but has only been held nine times in years when a winter north swell was large enough for Eddie’s wave-height requirements.
To run the contest, Waimea Bay’s waves must consistently be equivalent to about 40 feet (about 20 feet Hawaiian-style) with the right wind conditions.
Clyde Aikau, brother of the legendary waterman and organizer of the contest, said he was expecting waves to reach 50 to 60 feet wave faces today.
The contest was expected to attract more than 20,000 spectators, but the crowd estimates for the 2016 tournament were as high as 50,000.
Before dawn today, Waimea Bay was already packed with hundreds of fans and traffic was slow-moving for miles in either direction. Honolulu Ocean Safety and Emergency Medical Services personnel were kept busy this morning with multiple rescues including saving a baby swept underneath a home by a wave.
RELATED COVERAGE
• Women join men in the lineup for historic ‘Eddie’ surf contest
• Traffic to be ‘difficult at best’ during ‘Eddie’ surf contest at Waimea
