Page 6 - MidWeek East - January 18, 2023

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JANUARY 18, 2023
Aloha surfers and beachgoers,
Wow — 2023 rolled in like a tsunami. There was a 15-foot northwest swell on Jan. 2 and then the grand daddy northwest swell of the winter season on Jan. 11 with 15-to-25-foot waves. There were even 30-foot waves at select reefs like Pe‘ahi (other- wise known as Jaws) on Maui. Surf rarely fell below 6 feet this year. There’s yet another extra-large possibility coming Jan. 22, if model predictions come true. Check snnhawaii. com to know for sure.
I penned this column just
as the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational was canceled last minute the morning of Jan. 10 because weather and wind forecasts turned sour. This was such a bummer as the green light was given the day prior, prompting a media blitz and travel mania just one day earlier. But as we’ve said for nearly 40 years — the bay calls the day, and the stan- dards are as high as the waves Eddie once rode.
one person was ever lost under his watch at Waimea. Eddie was named Lifeguard of the Year in ’71, and while doing all of this, he charged the planet’s biggest, best waves with world class skill — including in 1977 when he won the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Champi- onship.
grows as does the esteemed event bearing his name, The Eddie. The best big wave riders across the globe come to ride life -and career- alter- ing surf and to pay tribute to the man.
keeping Eddie’s legend alive and growing. And mahalo to all the sponsors past and pres- ent, to everyone who makes this amazing event happen and to all of you who come to experience the spirit and ener- gy of The Eddie.
BY GARY KEWLEY
Surf Invitational Called Off Due To Poor Conditions
Eddie became the first lifeguard ever on the North Shore in 1968. From Sunset to Hale‘iwa, he saved more than 500 swimmers and not
Eddie manifested the “greatest love of all” when he gave his life to save the crew on the capsized dou- bled-hulled canoe Hōkūle‘a about 12 miles south of Molo- ka‘i on March 17, 1978.
The 2016 winner of the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, John John Florence, takes on Waimea’s big waves. PHOTO COURTESY SERVAIS
In 2022, Edward Ryan Makuahanai Aikau was fea- tured in Naomi Hirahara’s an- thology We Are Here: 30 In- spiring Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Have Shaped the United States that was published by the Smith- sonian Institution and Run- ning Press Kids.
We’ll have a much better idea about the Jan. 22 swell by the time you read this, so please join us at Surf News Network for the latest and greatest — and when the bay calls the day!
Eddie paddled for help to-
To this day, his legend
gary@surfnewsnetwork.com
ward Lāna‘i on his surfboard and was never seen again. He was just 31.
Mahalo to Clyde and the rest of the Aikau ‘ohana for
Mahalo for being here. GQ, droppin’ in 4 U!
P
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