Well done .

Tradition in respect of an honourable heritage as opposed to tradition in pursuit of commercial interests.

Though not a bad business move either to be honest.

When Eddie's going I'm shitting myself on the beach.

“Even if we have to have coconuts for trophies and you come down with a can of sardines, Uncle Clyde will feed you rice and we’ll have the event,”

Gold.

Talking about heritage and tradition ....

Go Humidor/ Wall of fire for the Quinella !!!!

Cheers all you Aussie Eddie Aikaus.

GO to the bar and grab a shout. Just like Eddie would've. Maybe.

Surfing trophies are always original, a coconut trophy would be wonderful. It should have been done before, maybe it has. In the dark jungles of Indonesia in the seventies (seventies is so in vogue at the moment) there might have been a group of surfers, each thought one was better than the other, so they made a coconut trophy of sorts.

But one surfer (one of the best)was murdered with the coconut trophy. All these surfers are now under suspicion. Enter left, a Indonesian policeman, tired, having to go to this surf resort again to sort something out. But what he finds is truly puzzling.

https://www.waimeabaychampionship.com/about/

In 1896 Australian native, Honolulu resident and author and archeologist Thomas Thrum wrote an article entitled, “Hawaiian Surf Riding.” He described the role of women in surfing during the late 19th century and noted that in Hawaiian history and legends, it was more often that, “the gentler sex carried off the highest honors." The oldest known surfboard in existence is a piano held at the Bishop Museum, and belonged to a 16th century Hawaiian chieftess named Kaneaumuna who lived at Ho’okena on the Big Island. Princess Ka’iulani, the last heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii before the overthrow and occupation, was an avid surfer and rode a 7’6 alaia made of koa wood. She surfed against the missionary’s decrees, helping to keep surfing flourishing in Hawaii, and even showcased her surfing in Brighton Beach, England to onlookers’ astonishment.

In the modern era of surfing, Linda Benson from California was the first woman to surf Waimea Bay in 1954 at age 15. The Gidget movie stunt double borrowed a 10-foot gun on an 18-foot day, not waiting to be left out of surfing that day with her friends. Joyce Hoffman was the first woman to surf Pipeline and also surfed big Makaha. Also of note were Margo Oberg and Lynn Boyer, who surfed big Sunset Point consistently and stylishly in the 1970s.

Rell Sunn surfed inside Waimea Bay at Pinballs at 8-12 foot with her friend, the gentle and accomplished surfer and shaper from California Cher Pendarvis. Pua Mokuau from the Westside of Oahu was an accomplished waterwoman, one of the first woman lifeguards in Hawaii (Sunn was the first). Mokuau regularly surfed Makaha well over 10-foot, and was not only a part of the elite Hawaiian watermen of the time but their equal. Mokuau was the only woman on the “Rescue Four,” the Westside jetski rescue unit with Brian Keaulana, working water patrol with him at Pipeline contests.

Phyllis “Jill” Dameron Albrecht was the first woman to be a regular at Waimea Bay and be considered a peer of the male big wave riders of her time. In 1977 she was the first bodyboarder, male or female, to surf big Sunset Point and Waimea Bay and she continued to surf there daily, for years. According to Ken Bradshaw, Albrecht was so consistent that contest director George Downing could call the Eddie Aikau contest based on whether Albrecht was in the lineup or not. She loved Waimea at 15 foot and up, but drew the line at 20 feet, “if Phyllis is out, it's not big enough for an [Eddie] contest.”

Avril (last name unknown) was also a big wave charger of the same period. Avril was known to surf Backyards Lefts on some very large days with Cher Pendarvis as well. During one of the days that Albrecht was surfing Waimea Bay, Avril was surfing Backyards, and died dropping into a huge wave.

Red Bull Queen of the Bay director Betty Depolito surfed Waimea Bay regularly starting in 1979, pioneering the way for the women who surf Waimea Bay today. Australian Jodie Cooper became the first woman to regularly surf backdoor and Pipeline, then Kauai native Rochelle Ballard would later set a new bar for mastering tube-riding.

Layne Beachley paddled and towed into a variety of harrowing waves, becoming the first well-diversified female big wave rider. On December 22, 1997, she was towed into 20-foot waves at Phantoms, considered the largest ever surfed by a woman until that point. She also surfed Outside Log Cabins, Todos Santos in Baja, California and was the first woman at the heavy Australian slab Ours in 2009.

In 1998 Brazilian Andrea Moller became the first woman to tow-in at Pe’ahi in Maui, and then the first woman to paddle it. Jamilah Star won the first Billabong XXL Big Wave Award given for 2004/2005, often surfing Waimea Bay with her friends Kim Hamrock and Jen Useldinger. Starting in 2006 Brazilian Maya Gabiera set a new bar for women’s towing, winning five XXL Billabong Awards. She is one of the best jetski operators, male or female, in the world.

Kauai native Keala Kennelly took big wave surfing to the next level. Kennelly was the first woman to tow Teahupo’o, enjoying it during the recent Code Red swell in 2013. She was the first woman to be invited to the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational in 2016. She also won the 2016 XXL Barrel of the Year Award, the first woman to win an open-category award.

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2017/10/first-ever-womens-big-wave-com...

Making a big-wave competition happen isn’t easy. Depolito has been trying to put this event together for years—writing letters, applying for permits, and regularly getting shut down. Once, she was granted permits for March and April, just outside the normal window for big wave conditions at Waimea. Organizers have to get permission from the city and state, secure sponsorship, bring in athletes from around the world, develop safety precautions and emergency response plans, find vendors who are willing to set up shop at the drop of a hat for the competition, and advertise the event to spectators and press. Above all, athletes and organizers have to deal with Mother Nature.

“There’s still a lot to be figured out with big wave surfing events because of the nature of, well, nature. For example, if you research the Eddie, for however many years it’s been scheduled it’s only run nine times,” says Valenti. With a two-month long waiting period—October and November, not months Waimea is known to get cranking— for a big enough swell, and, at the moment, without the right conditions in the forecast, there’s a decent chance the women’s contest won’t run. But that’s just how it is with big-wave contests. That doesn’t mean athletes and directors don’t have high hopes for the next month and a half.

“This is bigger than all of us. It’s bigger than this event. This is really about progression, women having an opportunity to show what they’re capable of, to progress this sport, and it’s kind of cheesy, but to inspire future generations of wave riders. You can do this,” says Delgado. “I was talking to this woman on the beach, this Hawaiian woman, and she asked ‘Do you have any Hawaiians in the contest?’ and I was like ‘No, you know, there are just no girls out there that want to go for it.’ And that’s the point of this contest. To give that inspiration, that goal to work towards; ‘You can get here too, if that’s what you want, if thats the passion you have.'”

"She is one of the best jetski operators, male or female, in the world." - about Maya Gaberia

Awesome

The surf co’s should all chuck enough money into a pot to run The Eddie then make themselves scarce. Leave off the logos and advertising and have it run simply as ‘The Eddie.’

Would be fascinating to know the real story here though. Remarkable that in this age when almost nothing is private North Shore politics can remain secretive.