Page 4 - MidWeek Windward - April 13, 2022

4
APRIL 13, 2022
Aloha surfers and beachgoers,
April Fools’ Day came and went so fast, it was a joke.
“go for broke” stardom op- portunity or some “flash in the pan” popularity contest. Lives are on the line every time the bay gets big.
and Waimea regular and, oh, he explores the outer reefs with skill, finesse and guts. Maki did not even make his winning wave.
goals this year through the ʻWave of The Bay’ compe- tition, and now I’ m in the Eddie! Thank you so much to the Aikau’s and every- one else involved with the Eddie Aikau foundation! I am so stoked! Congratula- tions to @jamie_mitcho as well!”
Of course, I performed my annual surf jokester re- port on TV, radio and 808- 596-SURF with “Wow, it’s the same size surf around the whole island, a rare phenom- enon. It’s pumping 4-6 feet on the North Shore, Mākaha, town and even Sandy’s and Makapu‘u. All are 4-6 feet with perfect offshores!”
Well, guess what? We have a winner. Two, in fact.
This “man-kid” free fell 20 feet straight down the Waimea elevator shaft un- der a 10-foot thick lip and into oblivion. He covered his head while his board twirled just above. The Waimea beast was huge and thick and throwing. Maki was in the spot, in the pit and just went for it. The judges noticed and realized this truly was an “Eddie Would Go” moment.
Some folks are still caught off guard for a split second — until I mention the date. I never actually say “April fools” because they know.
(From left) A stoked Jake Maki stands next to Clyde Aikau and Jamie Mitchell. Maki will be one of the youngest featured in the long-storied history of The Eddie coming up in 2022-23. PHOTO COURTESY JAKE MAKI
Tons of experience is man- datory. Waimea is already jammed tighter than Mid- dle Street merge in prime drive time. Plus, this place is dangerous — heavy duty dangerous. This is not your
Pray for surf. Pray for re- ally big surf.
Anyway, stronger spring trades are showing up more and more, which means more and more action out at Sandy’s and Makapu‘u. The weaker north and west swells are showing up less and less. The south swells are small but also getting more and more frequent. Indeed, Mother Nature is charting our ocean sports course.
The other winner is Jake Maki, a 17-year-young hard charger originally from the Big Island, now living at Sunset Beach. He’s a Pipe
GQ, droppin’ in 4 U!
gary@surfnewsnetwork.com
BY GARY KEWLEY
Jake Maki Performs An ‘Eddie Would Go’ Moment
gious event holds such a high standard for wave size and consistency that The Eddie has only gone eight times in its 36-year history (it began 1985-1986). That’s an average of running only once every 4 1/2 years.
Maki shared on Insta- gram: “Sometimes dreams do come true! I accom- plished one of my biggest
Thanks for sharing the drop with me in MidWeek’s Windward O‘ahu Voice.
One is Australian Jamie Mitchell, a legendary 10- time consecutive winner of the Moloka‘i 2 O‘ahu Pad- dleboard World Champion- ships-turned-big-wave war- rior/champion. At 45, he’s still pushing it to the limit. In fact, he just recovered from breaking his back at 35-foot Nazaré in Portugal. But, that didn’t stop him. Mitchell hates missing opportunities.
Maki will be one of the youngest in the long-storied history of The Eddie com- ing up in 2022-23.
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One of the ways we can tell we’ve moved on from the XL winter surf is that the season closed (Feb. 28) for the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea. They didn’t get that special XXL all day at the bay. We did have an epic season of large to XL episodes, but that’s not big enough.
Because the Aikau family and its Eddie Aikau Founda- tion wished to do more and do it more often for Eddie’s legacy — while continuing their epic surf standard at Waimea — they’ve sweet- ened the deal with a new ad- dition to the format.
If The Eddie does not “go,” they will now have The Eddie Aikau Wave of the Bay.
The holding period has always been three months: Dec. 1 through the end of February. Those are the “highest probability” months. This most presti-
This contest is open to all big wave riders all winter. Just submit your best photo and/or video of your crazy ride(s) at Waimea. The win- ner gets $10,000, plus an invite into next year’s com- petition! What a great idea especially in this new day and age.
Caution: you have to know what you’re doing.
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