No 'Eddie' swell during this season's holding perios
The three-month holding period for the 30th annual Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau will draw to a close here tomorrow. Unfortunately, one day of quality, consistent surf with a minimum wave face height of 40 feet did not materialized over the course of this winter.
"We had an unusual winter that delivered a number of major swell-generating systems but each brought with them a ton of adverse winds that decimated the waves," explains Event Director Glen Moncata. "Many of this winter's systems came much closer to the Hawaiian Islands than usual, bringing with them wild weather. The cleaner swells we saw simply fell short on size. So we will now look forward to next winter."
In its 30th season, "The Eddie" continued to garner major attention this winter. The first feature news story about Clyde Aikau - Eddie's younger brother and 1986/87 winner - aired on CBS This Morning ; the December 4 opening ceremony received international coverage featuring a young crew of Invitees including Koa Rothman and John John Florence; and the world's top big wave riders were treated to an intensive big wave safety course on the North Shore.
The Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau is the original big wave invitational event and is a World Surf League (WSL) sanctioned specialty event. It was last held on December 9, 2009, and was won by California's Greg Long. The event has only been held a total of 8 times. We look forward to entering a new decade in the event's story come winter 2015/16.
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PAST WINNERS :
1985/1986 : Denton Miyamura (Haw)
1986/1987 : Clyde Aikau (Haw)
1989/1990 : Keone Downing (Haw)
1998/1999 : Noah Johnson (Haw)
2000/2001 : Ross Clarke-Jones (Aus)
2001/2002 : Kelly Slater (USA)
2004/2005 : Bruce Irons (Haw)
2009/2010 : Greg Long (USA)
