“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.”
Honolulu City & County Lifeguard Luke Shepardson wins the 2023 Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational Championship ▪️ @KHONnews‘ @chrislatronic caught up with the champ following the announcement https://t.co/GkBMcle9AN Stay 2/ #KHON2 for more coverage throughout the evening 🤙🏽 pic.twitter.com/ecWT1OnTot
— Rob DeMello (@RobDeMelloKHON) January 23, 2023
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Good to see a real journalist at BG. Where can we see your interview with Nathan?
begs the ? can luke surf small waves like Toledo…?
better win than kelly’s kinda
Very cool…thanks for sharing Jen
Who’s shaped looks board? It looked like it went well compared to others bouncing all over the place..
Look’s board luked really good lol. RCJ luked good too. He was handling the chops with a kinda Dora shimmy.
“Luke’s”! Think in third grade I out spelled everyone in my class to make it to all grade finals. Luke at me now..
Looked like it could have been a well preserved SUPERband “old faithful” from a few season back when Luke skills were recognized and put on the Island Squad.. by the mainland shaper collective of Jason Koones and Brian Brown.. Big Ups to these craftsmen and Justin Cote’ for having the eye to detect an amazing diamond in the rough!!
hawaiian run events > wsl run events
Can’t wait to see John’s edit of this. Hopefully his camera guy got a few of Luke and Healey’s waves.
Tell us about it in 200 comments while having a breakdown fucker.
Jeez, if the NS Lifeguard Association that hard up for employees. Just give the guy the day off to celebrate and enjoy.
We all watched the same event and came away with quite the wide range of opinions and observations. While there was a lot of straight drops and closeouts, Kai, Healy, JJF, Zeke RCJ, Luke were impressive with some chip-ins and staying on the face. The riding through the flats to the shorebreak was WAY overdone though.
The big wave thing feels like the Women’s WSL events to me: there is a small handful of people are hands down better than the rest of the field.
Agony of defeat thing is somewhat real. Imagine Mason, KK, and even Kemper bell’s got rung. No agony of defeat at Trestles only the agony of this is how our world champion being crowned!
with you on that shore break bs (and the rest of it)…
Hard agree on the shorebreak thing. Kinda cheapens the deal, right? I know, Bruce’s wave, but let it go.
Landon McNamara had some bombs, too.
Despite all the grassroots production values, no scores no graphics etc, all those zipping drones providing mad angles made it seem pretty futuristic.
This will only motivate Erik Logan even more to make this WSL season the best one yet. Under his leadership this year, the Eddie will be seen as the event that measured up against the glory that is the WSL 2023 Championship Series, not the other way around.
Let’s hope but c’mon it’s ELo we’re talking about here, the biggest VAL kook ever!
I was being sarcastic. If there ever was someone who could fuck up a sure thing, it’d be Erik Logan.
Damn! Sarcasm sometimes hard to discern but I should have known better!
If only you could have seen the look on my face while I typed that, it would have given it all away.
Best event of the year is over before the WSL season even begins
Kelly was likely not interested in going out to surf fifty-foot mushburgers – the competitors could have ridden the same boards used the first time Waimea was surfed in 1957 or Eddie’s big red Hobie gun for all the difference it would have made.
Same story – make the drop and try to hang on in the whitewash until you reach the channel – yawn.
If you want the leading edge of performance big-wave surfing, we saw that last week at Cortes Bank.
At the the same time as The Eddie, a far higher calibre of performance surfing was happening over at Peahi on Maui, in great conditions –
The Eddie is all about rituals and tradition, not performance surfing.
Tow-ins have ruined big wave surfing, not impressed.
There’s a place for it. Some waves are undeniably out of reach unless you tow them. I’m glad someone is making sure they don’t go to waste. And just a thought experiment, what if they had never towed Jaws to begin with and experienced the wave up close? Would anyone have ever tried to paddle it at the size they’re paddling it now? Same with Mavs. It’s almost like the towing opened their eyes to the paddling possibilities and ultimately pushed the big wave performance forward overall. But what do I know, just a wanker on a keyboard…
derelictic wanker!
“[proud] derelict wanker”
let’s launch a BG pride parade…for a good charity, of course.
with benefits befitting Luke (BG promo)
All that is probably true but I’ve never heard it billed as performance big wave surfing. Seems like each spot has its niche.
Mushy?! Pffffft you have obviously never pushed yourself over the ledge there
I get that they tried to heighten the drama by keeping us in the dark about the scores and the leader board.
But when an absolute underdog is about to win the most prestigious big wave comp in the world I want to know.
Like…”who is this guy?”
“Will he hang on?”
It wasn’t until a few people in the comments started talking him up that I paid attention.
Did anyone in the booth even mention him during his first heat?
It was an incredible day but I feel like Luke’s whole story line was missed until the very end of the day.
He was constantly on some of the larger waves of the day that’s all I know… more drama than JJF’s who just makes it look soo easy! In saying that, had Healey got down the face on his chance and and possibly ridden a little further when he connected to that fucked up left on that other ride he would’ve won…IMHO. Also, it was very apparent that Kemper truly thought he’d won and I’m just glad he didn’t. -Mahalo
I agree on Healey. His waves were nuts, in my opinion. He seems like one of those guys who surfs the same whether contest or not. Just sends it, results be damned. That doesn’t really translate well into contest results but it is sure a hell of a spectacle.
Still an underappreciated wave in surfing history:
https://www.youtube.com/wat…
Completely agree on Healey. Had he gotten on that closeout he would have won going away.
Maybe I wasn’t paying attention during Luke’s first heat but he was barely mentioned by the booth.
He definitely deserved the win but I felt like he was treated as an after thought until about 15 mins to go in his heat.
That’s what you get when the announcers are (1) color blind, (2) aren’t given binoculars, and (3) are stoned off their ass.
You nailed it.
Perfect winner. The spirit of the event in so many ways. Wswho?
If you want to see the mountains at 50 to 60 foot faces head to Nathan Florence’s Insta. He has 2 posts that put it into a whole new perspective. I can’t think of another sport that is similar–maybe that guy doing the free solo of El Capitan? But that was stable rock–yes, he would have died if he fell, but that’s a one off crazy dude who doesn’t have fear–but this is 60 foot mountains of moving water. Pure power of the ocean. Crazy.
Edit: thanks DR and Chas for hosting, and all the commenters for sharing the stoke and humor live together.
Settle down with all the positivity cunt ☺️ Xox
Year of the rabbit transition where I am. Everything is shut down so I have too much time on my hands, and there’s all this energy in the air for a prosperous new year. I’ll dampen it down and get back into line. Speaking of, go lick yourself and then eat some vomit on the street.
People puking everywhere
Piles of blood, scabs and hair… -FEAR
Anything else we should know about your wedding night?
Great SF Bay Area band.
That’s the spirit, vomit search coming up! Xox
Those free solo guys are a bunch of nut jobs aye. I am a sucker for any rock climbing movie.
yes, Free Solo can’t really be compared to anything though I think, he isn’t really human
This one event was better than the last six years of wsl contests.
Money wasn’t the motivation.
Respect and awe to all that surfed it.
All those frequent flyer miles though!
What the heck happened to Slater. That’s all we want to know. I’m suspecting that he rocked up whimsically a tad late to grab his rashie and was told “sorry bruddah, you late, same rules for erryboddy”. Tell me I’m wrong.
He said
He wasnt feelin it.
https://youtu.be/z34xkSlD9Vs
That’s bullshit and you know it.
Elo told him if he surfed it Ziff wouldn’t buy any more liquid silicone too fix the leaks in his tub.
Elo is currently rocking backwards and forwards on the floor chanting “ trestles was better, trestles was better “.
Maybe Elo said
if you wanna surf first you gotta feel it.
He said fuk that, im not feelin it
Fair nuff
Cheers, I’ve been perplexed all day.
You bet
Xxx
Wow. Now I feel better about all the days I backed out of. Thanks Kelly!
Interview below seems legit reason. He’s won the Eddie, so nothing to prove. If it’s that big and you have doubt or your body is off, probably best not to force it–powerful lesson, actually, from an 11x world champ. Seems like he is genuinely happy he was able to give his spot to someone else who’s always dreamed of surfing the contest, too.
He has another Pipe comp to win later this week so…
“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 but everything to do with Billy Kemper!” – fixed it for you!
Hes a character.
Once again, Jimmy, you’re a saint.
BOOM!