"Dude, she's stuck under the log! What the fuck? Oh no! Someone needs to help her!" | Photo: @hawaiinewsreport

Chaotic scenes as 50,000 spectators flock to Waimea Bay during Eddie Invitational, sixty-four needing rescue, with a woman saved from certain death after almost being washed out to sea while stuck under a log, “Play stupid games, earn stupid prizes, bro!”

Derek Rielly

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"That's so scary! She's stuck under that heavy-ass log!"

You didn’t have to look too far to find a little drama on the North Shore yesterday as spectators jammed every vantage point at Waimea Bay to watch the Eddie Invitational in building twenty-to-forty-foot surf.

Rescues, and there were sixty-four of ‘em as well as 10,500 warnings handed out by lifeguards, included a fourteen-year-old boy who lost consciousness after he fell ten feet out of a tree while trying to get a better view of the waves and the woman, below, who was filmed being dragged out to sea while holding onto a log.

Almost as wild as the event is the droll commentary.

“On no! Is there someone on that log,” says a woman. “She’s stuck on the log! Someone needs to help her! That was fucked up. She was stuck under that heavy-ass log.”

“What did I say? Play stupid games, earn stupid prizes, bro!” replies a man.

Slightly further afield near Pipe, a woman was sent to ER after being belted by a concrete barrier just behind the lifeguard tower and at a beachfront house nearby, a baby was washed under it after the joint was hit by a wave.

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World’s most benevolent surfer Kelly Slater graciously gifts his Eddie invitation to North Shore legend Chris Owens in act of blazing love!

Chas Smith

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Tears in every eye.

Kelly Slater needs no introduction, here. The 11x world surf champion, multiple-time Pipeline Master, star of In Black and White has basically done it all, including winning an Eddie Aikau Invitational back in 2002. And he was slated to surf in yesterday’s grand affair too but decided to, instead, gift his spot to North Shore lifeguard Chris Owens.

What a move!

Slater, speaking to the local news station said, “I just wasn’t feeling it this morning and the next guy that would get it if I didn’t surf was a guy named Chris Owens. His brother Bobby was a pretty famous surfer in the 70s. A hero of mine. And Chris has been a life long surfer at Waimea and never surfed the Eddie so by me not surfing he gets to surf and I’m super happy for him. He was almost crying…”

The reporter interjects, “What a gift,” to which Slater replied, “There’s always going to be someone there who wants it more than you if you’re timid at all and it just didn’t feel like my day so I just said ‘Chris you go surf’ and he said, ‘Man, thank you…’ and we hugged it out and I can’t wait to see him surf.”

Wow!

Not only an act of great benevolence (which incidentally was just spell checked to “goat” benevolence by my computer), but also a rare look into Slater’s vulnerability. He continued that he spoke with legend Tony Moniz beforehand about “feeling weird” in regards to the day with Moniz simply telling him, “Then don’t go and don’t feel weird about it.” Also how it was tough on his ego and you can see that fight in real time. Slater’s voice pinched and honest, trying to not be mad that he, himself, wasn’t about to stake another GOAT moment into the sand.

Chris Owens, you will certainly recall, was the lifeguard brutally run over at Waimea this month by an adult learner who could not turn his craft.

Slater making it all right, though.

Doing the proper thing.

A surf angel.

Tears in every eye.

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WSL CEO Erik Logan (insert) not impressed. Photo: The Eddie
WSL CEO Erik Logan (insert) not impressed. Photo: The Eddie

In shameful act of simpering jealously, “global home of surfing” refuses to recognize inspirational Eddie contest!

Chas Smith

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Extremely poor sportsmanship.

The glory of yesterday’s Eddie Aikau Invitational is still ringing in the ethers. Everything about it, every shining moment, toed the line of perfection. Waves, waves that scratched the heavens and marched in never ceasing formation through Waimea’s bay. Men and women, heroic in their pursuit of glory, conquering fear and force and wind.

A victor, at the end, worthy of the contest’s namesake.

Was it the best Eddie of all-time? The biggest? Most entertaining? Debates can, and will, rage amongst surf fans, or at least surf fans who dwell outside of the “global home of surfing” where it is as if January 22, 2023 never existed.

Yes, while everyone from the Associated Press to your neighbor down the street was writing, thinking, posting about The Eddie, the World Surf League remained completely mum. No congratulations to the on-duty lifeguard Luke Shepardson on the World Surf League homepage. No Instagram posts or stories praising the valor of Ross Clarke-Jones. Not even a TikTok dance performed in honor of Keala Kennelly dropping from the sky.

Nothing.

And nothing on the personal pages of WSL brass either. SVP of Tours, Head of Competition Jessi Miley-Dyer featured a photo of herself posing with juniors in North County, San Diego. CEO Erik Logan, aptly, a congratulations to himself for being interviewed as part of a new tennis program.

Wild.

And could the hush hush be attributed to simpering jealousy? As Derek Rielly wrote, yesterday, “A little ironic, I suppose, that the ‘best day in surfing history,’ as big-wave world champ Billy Kemper described it, had nothing to do with the WSL, surf brands or even, as the winner was announced on the beach by Clyde Aikau, a professional surfer.”

The machinations of the League both absent and completely unnecessary. At one point during yesterday’s broadcast, some 90,000 souls were logged on and watching. The most I’ve ever seen for a WSL event is lower 20,000 something (not counting millions upon millions who are continuing to tune into the live airing of Final’s Day).

And, so, while the WSL has every right to be embarrassed, looking so embarrassed is… unchill.

Extremely poor sportsmanship.

Boo, WSL.

Boo.

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Asked if he thought he was on a par with the great Eddie Aikau, the Hawaiian lifeguard whom the contest is name after Shepardson said, “I’ll never be as good as Eddie. He’s someone to look up to, to aspire to be like.”

Honolulu County lifeguard Luke Shepardson who won world’s most prestigious big-wave contest on “best day in surfing history” cuts short interviews to return to work, “I gotta get back to the tower to make sure everybody is okay!”

Derek Rielly

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“I told myself because I was in it, I could win it and that was what I was telling myself all day. Super scary, waves were huge!"

A little ironic, I suppose, that the “best day in surfing history,” as big-wave world champ Billy Kemper described it, had nothing to do with the WSL, surf brands or even, as the winner was announced on the beach by Clyde Aikau, a professional surfer.

In building twenty-to-thirty-foot surf, Luke Shepardson, twenty-seven, who started the morning by clocking in to his gig as a North Shore lifeguard, took a few hours off work and by day’s end had beaten the most stacked field in the event’s history.

Apart from defending champ John John Florence, who finished second, Shepardson outsurfed big-wave world champs Makua Rothman and Billy Kemper, both surprise competitors after suffering injuries at the Backdoor Shootout, Kai Lenny, Zeke Lau, Grant Baker, Ross Clarke-Jones and so on.

On the beach, following the win, Shepardson, who won $10,000 and 350,00 Hawaiian Airlines frequent flyer miles, a little less than the 75k John John won in 2016 when the event was still sponsored by Quiksilver, necessarily had to cut his interviews short.

His break was over.

Time to get back to work.

“I told myself because I was in it, I could win it and that was what I was telling myself all day. Super scary, waves were huge,” Shepardson told Chris Latronic. “It’s a dream come true, to be a part of the Eddie, just to be in the alternate list and then be in it.”

Asked if he thought he was on a par with the great Eddie Aikau, the Hawaiian lifeguard whom the contest is name after he said,

“I’ll never be as good as Eddie. He’s someone to look up to, to aspire to be like.”

Shepardson checked the clock.

“I gotta get back to the tower to make sure everyone is ok for the rest of the day.”

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Lifeguard Luke Shephardson wins Eddie, beats John John, Billy Kemper etc.

Luke Shepardson takes out John John Florence, becomes first lifeguard to win historic Eddie Invitational in conditions described by local commentators as “a watery hell, just mountains of Satanic juice splishing and splashing without respite!”

Chas Smith

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Most prestigious surf contest on earth.

There is no chance you did not catch the Eddie Aikau big wave invitational today. Not one. From false start, one week ago, until the prediction of monster-swell-come-true as the morning sun rose over Waimea Bay, you were here. Or maybe there, hugging the volcanic cliff, breath caught in throat.

But.

If a three-year-old’s birthday party or long-planned garden work or boozy mini-golf somehow, divisional play in the National Football League accidentally, snuck up then… well, I won’t be the one to throw the first stone.

I was too busy, in fact, to even find a good throwin’ stone as I was glued to computer then phone then computer watching each and every moment of this historic history.

Wow.

The Eddie proved its worth as the most prestigious surf contest on earth. The mix of terror, art, skill, old-school charging was worth its weight and it made all the sense in the world that viewer numbers smashed any World Surf League event where

Today was an absolute who’s who of elder statesmen including Ross Clarke-Jones, Peter Mel, Michael Ho, Kelly Slater plus a good helping of North Shore chargers, sprinkled with Maui boys and the odd Chilean and we will have days to pick over their best moments though, now, in this moment, we have a man the judges refused to name all day long.

No leaderboard, very little understanding of which jersey represented what surfer.

While Kaipo and Rocky formed an epic duo, out-lilting each other at every turn, the lack of public-facing points, general understanding on who was wearing what color etc. did throw the idea of live commentators into question.

No matter.

As Mark Healy said, “best big day of Waimea I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Billy Kemper, “Best day in surfing history.”

And North Shore lifeguard Luke Shepardson beats John John Florence to take it.

A perfect Cinderella ending to a monster one.

More later.

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Photo: Jack English
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