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Watch it Live: Eddie Aikau big-wave surf contest under way in Hawaii, first since 2009

Xeni Jardin

Epic surf is up in Hawaii this week. The Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-surf competition, a contest spoken of on the islands with reverence, is in full swing at Waimea Bay on the island of Oahu.

Conditions need to be just right for the Eddie Aikau competition to be called. Consistent wave faces of at least 30 feet in Waimea Bay throughout the day.

In over 30 years, those requirements have only been met 9 times, including today. The event was last held in 2009.

The competition honors a native Hawaiian surf hero, Eddie Aikau, whose heartbreaking biopic you should watch.

The Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau is being streamed online. Watch the Eddie unfold here.

Photo: World Surf League

Mason Ho and Kelly Slater just surfed incredible heavy waves, as I’ve been watching online. Slater dedicated the tube ride to the late Brock Little, a surfer who recently died at a young age and was loved by the worldwide surf community.

This is just so exciting. If you have any interest in surfing, Hawaii, the ocean, the impossible beauty of physics and the limits of human physical potential, you have to tune in.

It’s so rare and special.

Watching these crazy daredevil motherfuckers go a hundred miles an hour on waves as big as 50 feet — it’s unbelievable. The sound, should you be lucky enough to make it out to witness waves like this in person, the sound is mindblowing. The only thing I can compare it to is what the Space Shuttle launches felt and sounded like. The earth is a drum, and these monster waves as tall as fifty feet are banging on it all day.

Today at the contest, an instant viral video that made the whole world wince in pain. Two surfers smashing into each other, the most brutal wipeout of the day today at the Eddie.

Snip from Hawaii News Now

Hawaii surfers Makua Rothman and Kala Alexander collided while trying to catch a wave. Quiksilver commentators described it as a “horrific” wipeout.

“Cannot dock the guy for trying to catch a big wave. I know he didn’t mean to do that to me,” said Rothman. “It’s just in the heat of the moment, everybody’s charging.”

No one was seriously hurt. See the video here.

From CBS News Hawaii:

Eddie’s brother, Clyde, says this is one of the best swells he has ever seen in all the years he has surfed in Waimea Bay. He’s the only competitor to surf in all eight previous competitions.

Elite surfers from around the globe grabbed their boards and hopped on planes when organizers gave the green light for the event earlier in the week, despite the fact that it could be canceled at any time. That’s what happened earlier this month, when organizers called off the event hours before it was supposed to go ahead because conditions weren’t right.

Crowds already started gathering at the bay on Wednesday night and continued flooding in by Thursday morning, CBS affiliate KGMB reported. Clyde Aikau said the event isn’t about fame or money, it’s about honoring his brother’s legacy.

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