If the minimum conditions are not met during the competition window, the event is not held that year, and the process repeats itself the following December.Įach year, 28 to 40 surfers, chosen by polling among their peers, are invited to Waimea Bay to participate in the opening ceremony "Blessing of Eddie Aikau" on the first Thursday of December. Each day, surf conditions, ocean swells, and weather forecasts are monitored by oceanographers, meteorologists, and big wave surfing experts, and provide input to the Tournament Director, who is responsible for making the official call to run the tournament. The competition window is between December 1 and the last day of February annually, when winter storms in the North Pacific provide the energy for big waves on Oahu's North Shore. As a result of this requirement, the tournament has only been held ten times during the history of the event, most recently on January 22, 2023. Open-ocean swells of this height generally translate to wave faces in the bay of 30 feet (9.1 m) to 40 feet (12 m). The tournament is known for a unique requirement that open-ocean swells reach a minimum height of 20 feet (6.1 m) before the competition can be held. Let’s go surfing together.Large crowd of spectators on Waimea Beach during The Eddie on FebruTournament format “The future is very beautiful and positive. “Really, truly we have all of the pieces and the pathway to do a concentration in Hawaiian surf studies, to perhaps even go on and do certificates in competencies or even an entire undergraduate program in all the aspects related to surf studies.” “So here we are in the cradle of surfing for our globalized world, and we should lead the way in educational endeavors,” Masterson said. Prior to the pandemic, surfing had been scheduled to debut as an olympic sport in Tokyo this summer. Masterson calls surfing “ Hawaiʻi’s gift to the world,” noting various legislative initiatives to create a state commission for what has become a $10-billion global industry. “It really has opened my mind to things I just did not know about surfing.” Let’s go surfing! “I feel like you are really missing out if you go to the University of Hawaiʻi and you are not taking a Polynesian Surf Culture class,” Ashmore said. Of course, the Friday surf labs are his favorite part of class. He catches wave after wave, moving up and down the longboard, flashing some fancy footwork. Dorian Ashmore, a UH Mānoa sophomore from San Diego, California, majoring in elementary education, has been surfing since he was 10. Not all Polynesian Surf Culture students are novices. Going to the places, the mythology comes alive. The sea that wears away at Kaʻaʻawa where we go surfing at Rainbows.” The real wind blows-the wild ʻĀhiu wind of Kahana. “Going to the places, the mythology comes alive. “It’s the experiential learning that is really the important vehicle,” Masterson said. He imparts his considerable knowledge both in the class and on the beach. He wants his students to gain a culture-based sense of Hawaiʻi and to recognize the importance of the environment. Masterson’s Polynesian Surf Culture class is about much more than the fundamentals of being able to safely approach the ocean, paddle out and successfully surf back in. He also teaches non-credit courses in ocean safety and recreation as the workforce coordinator for the Hawaiʻi Ocean Education Academy at Windward CC. Masterson holds a master’s degree in Pacific Island studies and taught a 300-level course in ethnography at UH Mānoa in 2017. He started developing and teaching curriculum for classes with titles like, “Pacific Surf Science and Technology” at Windward CC in 1999. That encouraging teacher is Ian ʻAkahi Masterson, a Windward Community College and UH Mānoa alumnus, skilled surfer and surfing historian, who has caddied for Uncle Clyde Aikau during the contest formerly known as the Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational Surfing Competition. “We have many people in our class who have never surfed before and they’ve gone out with a teacher that encourages them to not be afraid, and they’ve all stood up-every single person in our class.” Meet Ian ʻAkahi Masterson Ian ʻAkahi Masterson Everyone is friends and everyone is really stoked to be in class,” said Talita Stiles, a natural resources and environmental management major. “I think that we’re all just a really lovely cohesive group. Possibly because they are also earning college credit in the lab fieldwork portion of Anthropology 175 Polynesian Surf Culture. All are smiling and exuding a sunny vibe. About a dozen University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa students are demonstrating varied proficiency at riding some relatively small waves-from barely standing to almost dancing on a longboard. It’s midday in early March 2020 at Rainbows, a surf spot at the foot of the Koʻolau mountain range on Oʻahu.
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