UPDATE: 5:25 p.m

Landon McNamara of Hawaii was crowned champion of the 11th Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational today.

As the winner, McNamara secured the title as well as prize money of 50,000 US dollars and 350,000 Hawaii miles.

Mason Ho from Hawaii was named runner-up.

This year’s Eddie waiting period began on December 14th and runs until March 13th. Today marked the 11th time the competition has taken place since Eddie began in 1984 due to the need for 40-foot wave walls at its venue, Waimea Bay Beach Park.

45 surfers, including McNamara, and 25 reserve surfers were invited to participate in this year’s competition.

North Shore City Lifeguard Luke Shepardson won the last Eddie on January 22, 2023. In today’s competition, Shepardson placed sixth.

12:30 p.m

Many of the world’s best big wave surfers and tens of thousands of spectators descended on Oahu’s north shore today for the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay.

In near perfect conditions with huge waves and light winds, organizers announced that “The Eddie” was underway this morning and the competition began at around 9am with an all day event.

On Friday, organizers tentatively scheduled the competition for today, but had to wait until this morning to confirm the conditions were just right.

It is only the eleventh time the Eddie has been held since the competition began in 1984.

The tournament will only take place when wave heights consistently reach 40 feet or more and other conditions, such as light winds and the direction of the swell, are favorable.

Friday’s announcement sent the surfing world, its fans and city and state officials into a frenzy, setting off a flurry of preparations for the event that always draws thousands of spectators to Waimea Bay, bringing North Shore traffic to a standstill and attracting locals gives the economy a huge boost.

The Eddie Big Wave Invitational is dubbed the “Super Bowl of surfing” and the roster is a who’s who of the best big wave surfers in the world. Several previous Eddie winners are participating, including North Shore town lifeguard Luke Shepardson, who won the last Eddie on January 22, 2023.

Shepardson told KHON today that he is no longer on duty as he was in 2023, when he took breaks from work to capture Waimea Bay’s massive waves.

The competition is named after legendary Hawaiian waterman and big wave surfer Eddie Aikau, who was the first lifeguard for Waimea Bay and the North Shore and is said to have saved over 500 people throughout his career. Aikau died in 1978 while paddling his surfboard to get help after the Hokulea voyaging canoe capsized; The rest of the crew were later rescued by the Coast Guard.

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50-foot waves are expected on Oahu’s north shore today, adding to the dangers after a tourist from San Francisco died in high surf at Shark’s Cove last week.

Lifeguards at Waimea Bay used yellow tape and a megaphone to keep spectators away from the roaring shorebreak, where people raved about the news that the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational was “attempted” for today, depending on the surf.

Organizers officially announced this morning that The Eddie will compete when tens of thousands of spectators are expected on the north coast.

The world’s first surfing competition – named after the famous waterman who was the North Shore’s original lifeguard and reportedly saved more than 500 people over the course of his career – will only be held when wave heights in the bay are expected to be consistently at least 40 feet.

The Eddie has only been held ten times, most recently in January 2023 when North Shore lifeguard Luke Shepardson won the title, and before that in 2016. Today marks the eleventh time The Eddie has taken place.

The city’s Department of Marine Safety is urging “extreme caution” along the affected coasts due to the “extremely dangerous and life-threatening” conditions.

“Lifeguards are warning anyone wanting to watch the big surf to stay away from the shore and all rocky shores and only experienced surfers enter the water,” Ocean Safety said in a statement after Wednesday’s death.

Anticipating dangerous conditions and large gatherings of people, city officials announced parking restrictions around Waimea Bay and an increase in first responder staffing along the north shore. Special TheBus routes have also been set up to encourage people not to drive into the area.

The National Weather Service on Saturday extended its high surf warning for the north and west coasts of most islands until 6 a.m. Monday. Forecasters expect surf to increase to 40 to 50 feet today along the north shores of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai and Maui before gradually easing this evening and early this week.

Surf of 25 to 35 feet is forecast today for the west coast of Niihau, Kauai, Oahu and Molokai, with surf of 8 to 12 feet on the west coast of the Big Island.

The weather service warned the public to “expect seawater to spill over beaches, coastal banks and lava flows, potentially impacting coastal properties and infrastructure, including roads.”

Hazards include strong offshore and currents on most beaches, as well as large breaking waves and strong currents at harbor entrances and channels.

“Stay away from the affected coasts. Be prepared for road closures. Delay entering or exiting channels affected by the high surf until the surf subsides,” the weather service advised.

On Wednesday, Ocean Safety lifeguards went into the surf with wave sizes of 18 to 20 feet to bring an unresponsive 42-year-old man to shore in a personal watercraft. Paramedics later pronounced him dead. The Honolulu coroner did not immediately have a cause of death but identified him as San Francisco tourist Guo-Chen Peng.

Pro surfer Mark Healey, 43, of Pupukea will compete in his fifth “Eddie” today, even after a 12-foot wave at Waimea Bay on Friday ripped his 8-foot-11 Ron Meeks board in half has.

Asked what happened, Healey said: “Wrong place, wrong time.”

“It is incredibly dangerous and not even safe for experts,” he added.

Healey estimated that more than 50 of his boards have been broken by big waves in his surfing career.

Waimea surfers agreed Friday that the morning’s biggest waves were 15 feet tall if measured “Hawaiian style” – from the back of the swell rather than the front – and very dangerous.

Ethan Kobayashi, 19, of Palolo, had to miss Friday’s surfing session because of an injury to his left knee after it was twisted by a wave.

“Some people underestimate how strong the waves are,” he said.

Several surfers wore helmets and inflatable vests that hurl them to the surface when the force of a wave – or waves – holds them in place for too long.

Even people who “ooh” and “aah” on land risk being swept out to sea and caught in raging surf and deadly currents.

“The lifeguard says some people are getting too close to the water,” Kobayashi said after another announcement from the lifeguard.

He sat on a bench, safely away from the surf, which had been as high as 25 feet in Waimea Bay last week.

Lifeguards can’t force anyone to stay out of dangerous waters, but they do their best to warn those who seem like they don’t know what they’re doing.

On the day they recovered Peng’s body at Shark’s Cove, North Shore lifeguards conducted an estimated 3,000 “preventative measures” to ensure the safety of beachgoers and conducted eight rescues, according to the Ocean Safety Department.

Jeff Pike, a visitor from Akron, Ohio, spent the first day of his vacation Friday at Waimea Bay with his wife and three children. During big wave season, Pike said, “We read that you can’t swim at all on this side of the island.”

Surfer Ryder Jalbert, a 21-year-old math and psychology student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said: “Listen to the lifeguards. Everything they say counts.”

Kathryn Cahill, 44, and her husband Kawika Cahill, 45, both surf, but only in “not big Waikiki waves,” she said. “This is too big for us. If it’s 5 to 7 feet, I’m not going out.”

So they drove from their home in Diamond Head to Waimea just to watch — and to watch safely.

“You never turn your back on the sea,” said Kawika Cahill. “And stay away from the water unless you have experience.”

Ana Dagostini, a 12-year-old surfer from Brazil, stormed her first Waimea waves while wearing an inflatable vest and helmet while her mother Maira videotaped her from shore with a long lens.

“We came to Hawaii to surf,” said Ana’s father, Benito, who watched from the shore after twisting his knee while surfing.

“It’s not the waves,” he said. “The current is strong.”

Dane Teves, a 36-year-old architect from Kailua, got out of the surf and walked past passers-by watching the waves, saying they had to be wary of “the big waves that come up and catch you off guard.”

Tom Tengan, a 62-year-old visitor from Fountain Valley, Calif., and a 1985 UH graduate, sat on shore with his wife, their three daughters, son and son-in-law – and nothing but respect for the waves.

“You look extremely dangerous,” Tengan said. “It’s humbling to watch.”

Sydney Steddick, a 24-year-old surfer from Waialua, rested on a towel and watched her boyfriend Finn Armstrong take the famous surf break.

The winter waves are too big for Steddick, so she likes to surf smaller sets.

She called the sport “the coolest experience. You really feel the power of nature.”