The big news of the day are off course that Eddie did go today. The officials made the call this morning at 8am. The swell might have not been as big as in the years before but still was big enough and the conditions were perfect, so EDDIE WENT today for the first time since 2004.

This year was also the 25th anniversary of the Eddie Aikau Invitational, in its 25 year history the contest was actually only on 8 times so far. This time the title went to California Big Wave Surfer Greg Long followed by Kelly Slater.

Rider: Greg Long  Photo: Quicksilver

In the mean while the Billabong Pro Maui had its opening day Honolua Bay in perfect 6 – 8 feet Waves in top notch conditions. The swell was somewhat inconsistent but when the set came around the corner at the Lipoa Point the girls were in for a real treat.

Melanie Bartels scored a nice 9.17 with that barrel in the picture below.

In fact there were many waves being left unridden during the contest, these girls are really lucky to surf this waves by themselves, on a normal day like this there are at least 40 guys out, so it was also a great opportunity to take some nice fotos of Honolua Bay without crowds littering the shot.

As far as the results go you can see the quarter final pairings below, the swell continues to deliver great waves for the next 2 days. There is a good chance Billabong might wrap up the contest tomorrow already and we would have our first Triple Crown Champion.

I will keep you posted.

Scheeezn,

Mike

P.S. You can see now how the waves at Honolua Bay are significantly smaller than on O’ahu on the same swell on the same day.