The official waiting period for the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau begins on December 1, 2015, and runs through February 29, 2016. Photo: Quiksilver
It’s that time of the year again. The season when the entire surf industry – athletes, groupies, super fans, media, everyone and their grandmother, too – convenes on the North Shore of Oahu for the finale to the World Tour season and some of the best surfing in the biggest waves on earth. The seven-mile miracle is home to an array of life-threatening, mettle-testing, cahones-measuring waves including Pipeline, Sunset, and the infamous Waimea Bay.
But few contests on the North Shore match the clout of an Eddie Aikau trophy. It’s an honor representing the incredible endurance and Aloha spirit of one of Hawaii’s greatest watermen. A win at the Eddie is one of the sport’s top honors. Conditions, however, haven’t permitted the appropriate waves (read: a swell of 40-foot faces) for the contest to run in six years, the last winner being Greg Long in 2009. But this year could be different.
The predicted ‘Godzilla’ El Niño forecast is expected to send a series of large swells towards the Hawaiian islands during this year’s waiting period for the Eddie Aikau, which goes from December 1, 2015 to February 29, 2016. And today, Quiksilver has announced the official list of invitees for this year’s (possible) event, as the entire surf world begins their annual pilgrimage to Hawaii with high hopes for the event to run. It’s a who’s-who of big wave elite, with a few dark horse contenders in the mix, like family man and shaper Aaron Gold, Aussie charger known for a French outer-reef behemoth Jamie Mitchell, and legend of the sport and 53-year-old Tom Carroll. The list is as follows:
Aaron Gold
Albee Layer
Bruce Irons
Clyde Aikau
Dave Wassel
Garrett McNamara
Grant Baker
Greg Long
Ian Walsh
Jamie Mitchell
Jamie O’Brien
Jeremy Flores
John John Florence
Kala Alexander
Kelly Slater
Kohl Christensen
Makua Rothman
Mark Healey
Nathan Fletcher
Noah Johnson
Peter Mel
Ramon Navarro
Reef McIntosh
Ross Clarke-Jones
Shane Dorian
Sunny Garcia
Takayuki Wakita
Tom Carroll
Official Alternates (in seeding order):
Mason Ho (Aikau Pick)
Danilo Couto
Mark Matthews
Koa Rothman
Ben Wilkinson
Jamie Sterling
Billy Kemper
Shawn Dollar
Carlos Burle
Kealii Mamala
Gabriel Villaran
Michael Ho
Kai Lenny
Kahea Hart
Nathan Florence
Damien Hobgood
Kalani Chapman
Ryan Hipwood
Danny Fuller
Nic Lamb
Anthony Tashnick
Rusty Long
Derek Dunfee
Brock Little
