With ‘The Eddie’ possible, groups and organizers urge safety — and to leave a lot at home

WAIMEA BAY (HawaiiNewsNow) - For many of us, a day at the beach isn’t complete without a cooler filled with refreshments, snacks and food. But if you’re thinking about bringing one to Waimea Bay for “The Eddie” — think again.

Giant sets crashing down on the beach sent spectators scurrying to safety the last time the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational was held in January 2023.

The world-famous beach can normally accommodate huge crowds, but that’s not the case when Eddie-sized swells roll in for the Super Bowl of surfing.

SPECIAL SECTION: 2023 Eddie Aikau Stories

“Waimea is so huge and folks imagine it as this really vast beach, but a lot of the times folks don’t realize that the waves come in sets,” said Jenny Yagodich, education director of the group Malama Pupukea-Waimea.

While tens of thousands flock to the North Shore, many find out the hard way that a seemingly safe distance from the water is actually too close for comfort.

“And the lifeguards were making announcements and asking folks to stay on the park side of those barricades, and there were a whole lot of people not on the park side, and sure enough, a big wave came up and a few of them had to be rescued,” said Yagodich.

“The other year we had a lot of people getting drenched and dogs washing into the ocean,” said Liam McNamara, the contest’s director. “It became a little chaotic at one point because of so many people begin there and the waves were so big.”

People and, yes, dogs, were swept out and had to be rescued by lifeguards. But a lot of things were also taken into the ocean and then pushed back into the sandy beach after the last Eddie in January 2023.

“King-size comforters now soaked with water and sand. Styrofoam coolers that burst into a billion pieces,” said Yagodich.

“We found a Gucci purse, which was, you know — leave that at home.”

There’s a lot Malama Pupukea-Waimea wants you to leave at home.

Yagodich said volunteers collected more than 500 pounds of debris the morning after the last Eddie, including a 10-by-10 foot canopy.

“It took quite a lot of effort to dig that out, so things like that, they just ended up buried or really mangled, and it becomes a danger not just for the marine life and the marine environment, but for people, too,” she said.

Malama Pupukea-Waimea and others said spectators should stay off the sandy beach, which as some videos have shown, is still not far enough.

“What I would say first and foremost is listen to the lifeguards. Listen to security. Stay out of the high water mark,” said McNamara.

With all that in mind, what’s the best way to see “The Eddie?”

“To be honest, and it’s not the answer a lot of folks want to hear, but the best advice is to stay at home and watch it on TV,” said Yagodich.

But if you have to be there, beware.

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