Keala Kennelly was one of six women to compete in the Eddie 2023. Photo: ESPN
Keala Kennelly has been leading the charge for equality in surfing for years. Last weekend, her efforts paid off in a big way. For the first time in its 39-year history, six women paddled out at Waimea Bay and competed alongside the men in the Eddie Aikau Invitational. We caught up with Kennelly and asked what it was like to participate in the iconic contest, what she thought about the format, and other thoughts now that women are apart of the contest.
You’ve been fighting for women’s equality for a long time. What was it like to finally see women at the Eddie?
It was super emotional. When I was a little kid, I grew up with Andy and Bruce Irons and we had role models like Kala Alexander, Titus Kinimaka, and Laird Hamilton to look up to. But our biggest hero of all was Eddie and we knew that anyone who surfed in and won the Eddie went to instant hero status.
I remember thinking as a little kid that I wanted to be a hero like that, but didn’t think it was possible because they didn’t have women in the Eddie. Fast forward to 2017, I became the first woman to be invited and that was an incredible honor. And a couple years later, when they finally ran it, now there were six women.
How were the women received by the men and everyone involved in the contest?
It was such a positive, supportive environment. The crowd was cheering for all of us. We were competing alongside the men, so we were out there competing for waves with them. All the guys were super welcoming, really supportive, and really encouraging. I was really stoked.
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How were you feeling going into the contest?
I was super excited. I’d been kind of struggling the week or two beforehand where I was not feeling it and was not in a good headspace. But luckily, I was feeling a lot better by the time Sunday rolled around. I was feeling a little bit nervous but not as much as I expected even though it was going to be the biggest swell ever. For some reason, I was weirdly calm about it.
Had you ever seen Waimea Bay that big?
I had never seen Waimea that big. It’s funny that the first year women got to actually surf in the Eddie was the biggest I’ve ever seen it. It was kind of like when women were going to get equal pay for the first time in the Jaws event — it was the biggest, gnarliest Jaws I’d ever seen.
Did you like that the women were in heats with the men?
I think being mixed in with the men helped us push ourselves because we could watch and see what they were doing, where they were taking off, the waves they were making, and the waves they were not making. When I used to charge big waves when I was younger, it was usually me out there as the only woman with all the men. So, it reminded me of that and that always helped me to push my level to see what those guys were doing.
Do you think it’s fair that the women are scored alongside the men?
I think it would have been cool if they did an overall highest score for the women. Even if we were competing in mixed heats with the men, it would have been cool if they had a leaderboard for the top women because I would have loved to see Paige [Alms] get credit for getting the highest scores.
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What did you think of the women’s overall performance?
I was proud of every single one of them. It was the biggest Waimea ever and every one of them went out and caught waves. It was challenging conditions, it was a bit bumpy, and it was hard to make the drops, and every single one of those women went out there and charged. I couldn’t have been prouder of all of them.
You had a gnarly wipeout. How did you keep your cool and motivate yourself to go back out?
When you get rocked like that you get a lot of adrenaline, so I was just riding off that adrenaline. And I wanted to get another one; I wanted to make that wave. Coming into it, I thought I had a chance and then the thing just jacked up and went square right as I was standing up so there was no chance. But I wanted to get one like the guys. I only had a few minutes left and I really wanted one.
Do you think about little girls or next-generation surfers that may be watching when you’re surfing?
Yeah, absolutely. I think that the little girls were watching. For me, growing up, I didn’t necessarily need to see a woman conquer something or go out and do something. If I saw a human do it, then I knew it was possible. But for some people, it’s really important for them to see a female go and do it if they’re a female.
Do you think having women at the Eddie will help open more doors for women?
Absolutely. If women go out there and are taking waves and charging at the most prestigious, dangerous surfing event in the world, then yeah, I think that will open a lot of doors.
What’s next for you? Any contests on the horizon?
I had that really crazy wipeout at Jaws a few years ago when I won ‘Wipeout of the Year’ in the Pe’ahi Challenge. I really got rocked on that one and I tore my labrum. Ever since that injury I just feel like my back leg is really unstable and I seem to be wiping out a lot more than I’m making waves, and it’s just not very fun for me anymore. When you’re an elite athlete and you’re used to surfing at a certain level, you want to surf to that level or better. But I started a women’s high performance boardshort brand, Akktive, so I’m going to be focusing on that a lot more.
Anything else?
Thanks so much to the Aikaus for including the women, all the male athletes for making us feel welcome, and all the fans for cheering for us. That was a really special day.
