SAN DIEGO As a catastrophic northwest swell rushed over the Pacific, causing high surf alerts from Hawaii to California, Winter charged on Saturday, the first day.
The National Weather Service has issued a high surf warning, the most severe big-wave alert, for portions of Hawaii, including the North Shore, the surfing hotspot, where 50-foot waves are expected on Sunday.
According to the weather service, warnings are sent when waves endanger people or property.
As a warning to avoid the sea, the weather service issued a high surf advisory for 10 p.m. until early Wednesday, indicating that the same swell will begin to affect the coast from Santa Barbara County in California to the U.S.-Mexico border on Saturday night. According to the report, San Diego County is anticipated to see the largest waves in Southern California, which might reach 13 feet.
The West Coast up to the U.S.-Canada border was also expected to see large waves; the Seattle weather service predicted waves as high as 30 feet, while the Portland, Oregon, office predicted waves as high as 33 feet.
According to contest director Liam McNamara, the ocean energy prompted organizers of The Eddie Big Wave Invitational, one of surfing’s top events, to tentatively approve the event for Sunday at Waimea Bay on Oahu. Confirmation is anticipated at first light that morning.
In an interview with Honoluluon’s NBC station KHNL on Friday, McNamara stated that the swell has frequently created waves that are larger than anticipated in recent days.
Waves must be at least 20 feet, measured Hawaiian-style, or from the back of the wave, meaning that wave faces can measure double that. The conditions-dependent competition has been held ten times in the last 40 years.
“We’re expecting one of the largest waves ever,” McNamara posted on Facebook on Saturday.
A satellite recently measured a wave at about 66 feet off Hawaii, according to Kevin Wallis, director of forecasting at Surfline, a wave prediction service, on its website on Saturday.
“That s the largest satellite-verified wave height reading I can remember seeing in 25 years at Surfline,” he stated.
Serious preparations for the Eddie are under way, according to Honolulu officials, who oversee the island of Oahu. They said lifeguard stations will be fully staffed on Sunday, and traffic barricades and signage will be put up Saturday night.
At a press conference on Friday, Mayor Rick Blangiardi stated that an unprecedented 50,000 people were anticipated to watch the contest on the beach on Sunday.
“If you are not an experienced ocean-goer, you are strongly urged to stay away from the ocean and shorelines along the north and west-facing shores during this high surf period,” the municipality of Honolulu stated in a statement.
Because waves may cross conventional borders and drag people into the sea, officials advised anyone who want to watch the competition to stay at home, watch it on television or the internet, or take public transit and listen to lifeguards’ announcements.
Waves poured over onlookers in Waimea Bay during last year’s Eddie, and Kurt Lager, acting head of the Honolulu Ocean Safety Department, said that this might happen again on Sunday, but with a wider reach.
“We’re expecting that to happen again as the surf builds through the day,” he stated during the press conference on Friday. “It could possibly be unprecedented how far the waves will wash into the park.”
The competition is named after Eddie Aikau, the first lifeguard on the North Shore. Eddie was a big-wave surfer who died in 1978 at the age of 31 while on a voyage that demonstrated Polynesian people could travel great distances—in this case, from Hawaii to Tahiti—in traditional, double-hulled canoes known as h k le an s. After the canoe took on water and capsized in severe conditions, Aikau offered to paddle his surfboard several miles to neighboring Lanai Island just hours out of port, according to the Associated Press. No one ever saw him again.
With the motto “Eddie would go” referring to his desire to take on worthy challenges as well as plunge into the scariest waves, Aikau’s memory is respected as a world-renowned big-wave surfer, lifesaver, and promoter of the indigenous culture that introduced surfing to the globe.
Last year, the competition attracted waves of a suitable size, and it shocked everyone when 27-year-old Luke Shepardson, a lifeguard on duty at the time, defeated the top large wave surfers in the world to win the men’s trophy.
This year’s invitees include big-wave icons Mason Ho, Peter Mel, and Ross Clarke-Jones, as well as 11-time world champion Kelly Slater.
Women were invited for the first time last year. Among those tapped this year are “queen of Pipeline” Moana Jones Wong, top pro Justine Dupont, and big wave legend Keala Kennelly.
Aikau’s brother, surfer Clyde Aikau, was involved in the decision to organize the competition on Sunday in Eddie’s honor, McNamara told KHNL on Friday.
Shepardson, the winner, was invited to compete again on Sunday along with three other Oahu lifeguards who made the field, according to Lager of Honolulu Ocean Safety.
Surfline said that two winter storms in the North Pacific, which rotate counterclockwise and carry swell and rain toward the U.S. West Coast, were churning up the large waves over the weekend. Wallis described the most recent storm on the Surfline website as “a beast.”
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