But what if....
I’ll tell you what, no one, or thing, teases like The Eddie. Not Jaws, Pipeline, the notorious fickle Mundaka or Scarlet Johansson. The last time the big wave invitational ran was 2016 when a loaf of bread $1.42, a gallon of milk $3.19 and Xi Jinping was president of China. John John Florence won the day with quiet elan. The time before that was 2009 when a loaf of bread cost $1.45, a gallon of milk $2.69 and Li’l Wayne topped the music charts. Greg Long won that day and I was perched on Waimea’s beachfront amphitheater watching with my much younger eyes.
Those were the days.
But back to 2019/20, the contest was given a “yellow alert” days ago but has since been downgraded to “red” as the projected swell shall, theoretically, arrive during the unsurfable hour of midnight and let us go straight to Hawaii’s KHON news for a word from director Liam McNamara:
“Everybody’s welcome to come out to the North Shore if they want to see the big waves because it’s going to be big. It’s going to be beautiful. Probably going to have some great waves at Waimea and then Pipeline. But unfortunately, the tens and thousands of people that were going to come out for the event? They can go to work. They can enjoy their New Year’s Eve, their New Year’s Day festivities.”
Drat.
A New Year’s Eve Eddie would have been something.
But back to the swell peaking at midnight, imagine if they brought some very big lights down and shined them at the waves. Imagine how wonderfully picturesque and exciting it would be to run as the year flips from 2019 to 2020.
I think we wage a very slight online pressure campaign to see if we can’t get this to happen. No bullying, mind you, just a very subtle questioning of the contest organizers’ bravery.
Arvo …… Afternoon ….. as in “Gday watcha doin this arvo “ translates to ….” good day what are you doing this afternoon “
Swell period? Better watch out for the sharks!
And Lairds.
Kkkccrrr-eeeeerrt-I-I-I
{spout}
What’s wrong with night surfing under big spotlights or even let off a few fireworks and they can just pick a line and go? Fucking pussies
With you leading the way out there, what could go wrong? How could they miss?
You commented on a comment. I see how you got your name.
And you shot him down for it, living up to yours
Waimea Buoy pinging !!
Still the coolest event in surfing. Every time it *almost* runs it adds to the mystique. Glad it’s no longer Quiksilver’s event.
Well that’s not a nice thing to say.
Quiksilver put a lot of time and money and energy into the Eddie and created a platform for a lot of big moments.
Brock and Richard Schmidt and Kerry Terukina and Keoni Donwing and them.
Michael Ho and Bruce Irons and them riding all the way through and shooting the shorebreak.
The opening ceremonies were always fun and one year Pearl Jam played a live set up in Pikake Pavilion.
Kwock and McKnight were rocking out, right in front.
Just because you weren’t there and weren’t a part of it, don’t mean it was bad.
Or do you mean the new Quiksilver that is run by God Knows Who?
The Eddie was great and might still be great again.
Who is running it now?
Of course Quiksilver put money and time into this event (and were dancing), they made millions and millions of dollars selling Eddie merch. Every year they had 50 to 60 pieces with Eddie branding. No other collections in their seasons had that many pieces. The joke among reps was that Eddie merch bought you a house. Meanwhile the Aikau family got paid a small annual naming fee. Does that sound fair to you?
My family was/is a part of it since inception. It’s the coolest event in surfing. I’ve seen it live a few times.
It’s now being run by Kamehameha Schools, Hokulea and Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Donations now go to the Eddie Aikau Foundation, not Quiksilver.
Millions and millions on Eddie merch?
You sure about that?
$50K is better than nothing, I imagine.
$50K to each of them, maybe?
They should have got a royalty on each sale.
I doubt Quiksilver wanted to cheat the Aikaus.
I do know there was a power struggle between the Aikaus and the Downings there for a bit over the Eddie.
How did that work out?
And how much is the prize money? Can’t find that anywhere.
“Oh my! Guess What! I just emailed people…Full of Beans.”
Ok Boomer. I wish you the best. Good luck out there.
Everyone in the surf industry thinks everyone else is full of shit, and everyone is correct.
You should start a methane farm with the crap you generate.
Aikau family got a royalty from all Eddie merchandise – which apparently only sells well in Hawaii.
I just got a run down on how much money was lost by all of the big surf companies in the transition to corporate ownership.
The founders made mega-bank and the buyers got hosed – but so did the public share holders.
Hundreds of millions, all over the place.
Including Nike.
Guess surfers aren’t so dumb after all?
Do you think everyone else on bitchgripe.com is as full of beans as you are?
One suspects they are.
Oh my!
Guess what!
You’re completely full of beans.
I just emailed people who know the ins and outs of the deal Quik had with the Aikau family and it was way way way better than what you stated.
Many zeros on the left side of the decimal better.
An a royalty on all Eddie merch – which didn’t sell well outside of Hawaii.
And now that the contest is no longer in Quik’s care and it’s not a WSL event, the surfers aren’t getting paid?
Bupkiss?
Is that correct?
Well that’s just a swell deal for all involved.
Somebody killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Imagine someone on bitchgripe.com being full of beans.
Whoa 11 feet at 22 seconds! Rising to 15 feet at 21. This arvo could really be Big Monday at Pipe all over again.
Was this another Californian x Surfline hype machine gone wrong?
Is it “forecasted swell” or just “forecast swell?”
“Forecasted” doesn’t look right, for some reason.
Kind of like “commenter” doesn’t look right. Especially Be’n a writer. Should be “commentator” for reason.
‘Foreskinneth’
What Size did the forecast ? Circum Size ….. ?
Eddy would Go. …. on standby ?
Nice work Bicko. Been a while since we have seen a featured comment. Now you can die a content man.
judged like a WSL heat.