Potential 50-Foot 'Eddie' Swell Heads to Hawaii, Big Wave Event on Yellow Alert

The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational is on yellow alert.

Often considered the world's most prestigious surf contest, the Eddie (as it’s colloquially known) features big-name surf stars and underground chargers, as they surf and survive 50-foot-minimum waves at the legendary Waimea Bay on Oahu’s North Shore.

And now, a swell of that magnitude, potentially, is heading for Hawaii.

“We’ve been looking at a swell for the last few days,” Liam McNamara, contest director, told KHON2. “Today, we got an update that this swell does have some good potential to meet that 50-foot height range. So, yeah, we’re looking to go yellow.”

McNamara continued:

“It’s a matter of the timing of arrival, and also the wind. There’s some questions with the wind, and questions of whether it will peak overnight. We need eight hours of competition, from 8am to 4pm. We need 50-foot faces. It’s a lot to ask.

“But last year, we got way more than that.”

The contest – which honors the late Hawaiian waterman, Eddie Aikau – last run on January 22, 2023 with local North Shore Lifeguard Luke Shepardson winning the event. That was just the 10th time the Eddie went since its inception in 1984.

This season, the event window runs December 14, 2023, to March 12, 2024. But as everyone knows, there needs to be an appropriate swell. The Bay calls the day.

For more on the incoming swell, here’s Surfline Forecaster Kevin Wallis:

“Confidence is increasing that a major/XXL swell will impact the Hawaiian Islands in about a week, the 15th-16th. While there are a lot of details to be worked out in the next several days, there is potential for an Eddie-level swell as well as huge surf for the Peahi Challenge.

“But…

“The current timing of the swell - based on the GFS model guidance - would have it peak overnight Thursday before settling some through Friday. That could prevent 20’ surf all day at the Bay.

“Local wind for both Oahu and Maui doesn’t look great, possibly onshore. At this point I think better odds that everything would fall into place for the Peahi event to run over the Eddie - and even then it’s probably a coin flip chance at best right now. But we’ll see how things shake out through the weekend. Fingers crossed at least one of these two great events will get an opportunity to run.”

Past Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational winners:

• January 3, 1985 - Denton Miyamura

• February 23, 1986 - Clyde Aikau

• January 21, 1990 - Keone Downing

• January 1, 1999 - Noah Johnson

• January 12, 2001 - Ross Clarke-Jones

• January 8, 2002 - Kelly Slater

• December 15, 2004 - Bruce Irons

• December 8, 2009 - Greg Long

• February 25, 2016 - John John Florence

• January 22, 2023 - Luke Shepardson

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