eddie would go

eddie aikau was the first lifeguard hired by the city and county of honolulu to work on the north shore.  he was famous for braving 30 ft waves at waimea and for never having lost a life while he was a lifeguard at the bay.  in 1978 he agreed to take part in a 30day, 2,500-mile journey to follow the ancient route of the Polynesian migration between the hawaiian and tahitian island chains.  a leak capsized the canoe and he paddled toward lanai to get help.  the coast guard ended up rescuing the crew but eddie was lost at sea.

in 1985, the quicksilver big wave invitational (better known as the eddie) was created to honor his memory.  it has only been held 8 times because waves must be a minimum of 30 ft faces.  only 28 big wave surfers are invited to compete and they must get to the waves on their own power, not with jet skis.  according to legend, eddie wouldn't hesitate to charge giant waves in order to save someone. at the first competition, organizers were debating whether or not to hold it when one of the pros looked out and said "eddie would go."  so it went.  the last competition was held in 2009 (waves reached 30-50 ft!) and we were hopeful that it would go again this year while we were there.  it was pretty close.  the forecast was up and people and vendors were flocking to north shore.  they ended up calling it off that morning but there were still tons of people around and even if the waves weren't 30 ft they were still huge and guys still went out.