Eddie Would Go!

So this past Tuesday, December 8, 2009, all of us decided that we were going to quit college for a day because the epic Eddie Aikau surf competition was going to happen. For those of you who don't know who Eddie Aikau is, he is a legendary surfer from Hawaii. He was pretty much the best of the best. It didn't matter how big the waves were, Eddie would always paddle out and surf them. That's where the famous phrase "Eddie would go" comes from. One day he went on a trip with about 16 crew members sailing off to Tahiti. The winds and waves started getting crazy and the canoe cap sized. The crew was out there for a really long time and Eddie was trying to convince the captain to let him paddle back to shore and get help. The captain finally let him go and a little while later a rescue helicopter came and saved all of the crew members and the search for Eddie lasted for a week but he was never found. Some people say he's still out there surfing the waves because nothing was ever found. So if the waves are big enough at Waimea beach then they have the Eddie Aikau surf competition. The waves have to be over 20-30 feet and surfers have to be invited to surf in it. The last time it happened was about 5 years ago because the waves haven't been big enough. There were thoughts that it might happen on Tuesday so we all got up at like 6 in the morning and headed for the North Shore around 6:30. Many people signed up for the free online text that lets people know if it's going to happen or not. Our friend got the text that said it was on and we were good to go. Many people skipped work and as soon as they got the text they went running. Needless to say, I have never seen North Shore so packed before.

Here are some awesome pictures that my friend John Remington took of the competition. You can see how big the waves are by how little the surfers look on them. Look close! Brandon Long ended up taking first and Kelly Slater took second and I can't remember who took third... Sorry! But it was AWESOME!!!