Eddie Aikau big-wave contest might be a go for Wednesday

Big waves headed for Oahu’s North Shore might make it possible to stage the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau on Wednesday for the first time since 2009.

Contest officials issued a yellow alert Sunday, putting competitors on standby. Officials will meet today and are expected to make a call by midday on whether the event will take place Wednesday.

“The height requirement for the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau is 20 feet, or 40-foot wave faces,” Jodi Wilmott, contest spokeswoman, said Sunday evening. “We have had numerous swells this winter already, but they have been of a shorter duration for the competition, less than eight hours of surf.

“Organizers are willing to condense the format to try to fit it into a workable window,” she added. “If there are a good five or six hours of 20-foot surf during the day, they are really positive about going.”

The holding period for the Eddie contest ends Feb. 29. The competition was last held in December 2009.

The National Weather Service office in Honolulu is predicting surf to climb steadily Wednesday morning into the “extra-large” category, meaning breakers on outer reefs. Heights could reach as high as 40 feet on those reefs by late afternoon.

The forecast will be fine-tuned Monday after satellite measurements of ocean surface winds and seas become available.

On Sunday, high winds and choppy surf kept lifeguards busy on Oahu’s Windward side with several rescues. In one case a group of six stand-up paddlers and kayakers was unable to get to shore from the Mokulua Islands. Lifeguards brought the stand-up paddlers in and escorted the kayakers to Lanikai.

Meanwhile, firefighters and lifeguards searched for a possible drowning victim off Waikiki.

Firefighters responded with a helicopter and a boat after a tourist reported seeing a body and surfboard lodged under a rock at about 2:30 p.m., in the area about 100 yards offshore between Kaimana and Queen’s beaches.

Honolulu Fire Battalion Chief Geoff Chang said the man was paddling on a board when he saw what he thought was a body underwater. He did not have strong water skills and was unable to turn around to confirm what he saw, so he paddled back to shore and notified authorities.

Authorities took the man back out to the area, and he realized that he was mistaken.