Eddie 09

I've never been to see the Eddie live in person before. I've been to the North Shore and seen the big waves before, but never saw the Eddie. So when the waves were getting big and there was buzz about the Eddie going in the next few days, I really wanted to go. Unfortunately, I was really sick and not feeling well. I called in sick on Monday, and decided not to go to Waimea, because I was feeling really terrible and went to the doctor's instead. On Tuesday, I still felt sick, but with the meds that the doctor gave me, I felt a little better. So when Don said he was going up to Waimea to check it out, I decided to go, and hoped that the Eddie would go!

Don picked me up at an ungodly hour and we started our drive to the North Shore, about 4:30 in the morning. We made it up there around 5am, and there were already so many people around and cars parked EVERYWHERE! We ended up parking about a mile away from Waimea Bay and followed the trickle of people to Waimea. It was a chilly morning, so it encouraged us to walk faster, but it was also a challenge trying to dodge the parked and moving cars along the road.

We found a spot between the guard rail and the edge of the cliff at the top of the hill overlooking the bay. People had camped out there at least from the night before, and everyone around us was bundle up and passed out. We were pretty happy that we found a decent place above the bay without having to camp out overnight or for 2 nights! We watched the spotlight shining into the bay and the HUGE waves rolling in. As the sun rose over the mountains, we saw people paddling into those waves and at least more than a dozen surfers huddled in the bay.

I walked down to the beach and saw tons of people lined up behind the barrier tape (to protect people from being dragged into the ocean from the waves). I could see people out in the bay surfing the monster waves. But because I was at the beach level, the shore break would come up and they would be blocked. I could hear the announcers on the beach talking, and a few minutes later, I heard "THE EDDIE IS ON!!!!!" I got chicken skin as we all started screaming and clapping. This was it!

I went back up to the top of the hill and watched an entire heat of the Eddie. It was so awesome! When Kelly did his 98 ride, we watched him ride all the way to shore and along with the crowd all around us, we cheered him on. It was definately a great experience to watch the Eddie and I was glad that I went. This was the 25th year that the Eddie was being hosted, but only the 8th time that it actually ran. And this year, the day it ran was the same exact day that it ran the 1st time!

Kelly making his first drop

People were packed in as far as you could see ... along either side of the road, up the mountains, along the rocks ... basically anywhere they could be and still see the Eddie.