Just in: The Quik Eddie Aikau Invitational will go
RVCAloha | The Eddie from RVCA on Vimeo.
After a couple of near misses and some serious social media punditry, it’s looking very likely that the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in memory of Eddie Aikau will run this Wednesday or Thursday.
Yesterday Quik issued a yellow alert, we ooo'd, awe'd and speculated. Just a short 24 hours later they've officially given the Eddie the green light and organisers will begin building the scaffolding at Waimea Bay today.
It’s been seven years since Greg Long won the last Eddie in '09. With so much El Nino-fueled surf this winter, the looming northwest swell could be just what they need to crown a new champion. Depending on when the swell fills in, the Eddie could start as early as Wednesday morning. There’s also rumour of the contest being split over two days if the swell doesn’t show up until Wednesday afternoon (the case of the last two swells), they’d crown a winner at some point on Thursday. Whatever happens, it appears this winter is long from over.
The 2015/2016 Invitees:
Aaron Gold, Albee Layer, Bruce Irons, Clyde Aikau, Dave Wassel, Garrett McNamara, Grant Baker, Greg Long, Ian Walsh, Jamie Mitchell, Jamie O’Brien, Jeremy Flores, John John Florence, Kala Alexander, Kelly Slater, Kohl Christensen, Makua Rothman, Mark Healey, Nathan Fletcher, Noah Johnson, Peter Mel, Ramon Navarro, Reef McIntosh, Ross Clarke-Jones, Shane Dorian, Sunny Garcia and Takayuki Wakita
Official Alternates (in seeding order):
Mason Ho (Aikau Pick), Danilo Couto, Mark Matthews, Koa Rothman, Ben Wilkinson, Jamie Sterling, Billy Kemper, Shawn Dollar, Carlos Burle, Kealii Mamala, Gabriel Villaran, Michael Ho, Kai Lenny, Kahea Hart, Nathan Florence, Damien Hobgood, Kalani Chapman, Ryan Hipwood, Danny Fuller, Nic Lamb, Anthony Tashnick, Rusty Long, Derek Dunfee and Brock Little
