Barry Sweet has a front seat to the mass of humanity that descends on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, for the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational.
“If you watch from early morning until early afternoon, it’s like a pilgrimage,” he said of the crowds for the surf competition, better known as the Eddie.
Alongside his wife, Janelle, and her sister, Deann Sakuoka, he watches from the vantage point of Pupukea Grill, a food truck run by his family that is parked off the two-lane Kamehameha Highway, a 10-minute walk from Waimea Bay and one of the few restaurants within miles.
When the Eddie is called some 48 hours before the contest is set to begin, a prestigious list of invitees — 45 competitors and 25 alternates — begins scrambling. Surfers from Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, South Africa and Tahiti had a host of logistics to work out to make it to Waimea Bay in time on Sunday.
They are joined by tens of thousands of spectators who crowd a small strip of beach and the surrounding cliffs, many of them camping out as soon as the ubiquitous event is called. Kamehameha Highway, which hugs the bay, is clogged long before the sun comes up. It is the only road to and from the bay.
Like many big-wave competitions, the Eddie has a holding period that lasts for a few months, between mid-December and mid-March, meaning it could run at any point in that period if the conditions are right. But unlike most events, the Eddie rarely happens, giving rise to the slogan “the bay calls the day.”
The face of the wave, the part of the wave that can be surfed, must reach heights of 40 feet, or the size of a four-story building. That’s unusual, and it’s rarer for those conditions to sustain a full day of competition.
This year’s conditions were created by a big storm that formed in the west Pacific Ocean, east of Japan, late on Thursday, said Kevin Wallis, director of forecasting at the surf forecasting website Surfline. It’s a Goldilocks-type scenario: If the storm had been too far away, the waves would have been too small. If the storm came too close, it could have brought bad wind and weather, he said.
The event was last held in January 2023, weeks after a false start sent dozens scrambling to the North Shore of Oahu before the competition was canceled because of changing conditions. In 2016, it was called off the morning of the event because of a swell change, and was eventually held weeks later.
The big-wave surfer Felicity Palmateer decided to begin her long journey from Perth, Australia before the event was even called. She has long chased unpredictable swells, but she didn’t want to risk missing this event.
“It’s so much more than a surf contest,” she said.
It’s a sentiment echoed by surfers, like Ms. Palmateer, who are stepping into their first Eddie, and by veterans of the event like Peter Mel, a big-wave surfer who will be surfing his ninth Eddie, a remarkable accomplishment considering this is only the 11th time the contest is running.
“It’s a celebration of not just surfing itself but of the culture, of life saving, of watermen, and the heritage of Hawaii,” Mr. Mel said.
The event was founded in 1984 to honor Eddie Aikau, a surfer from Hawaii and the first lifeguard on the North Shore of Oahu. He was revered as a surfer who would paddle into waves no one else would attempt, and he saved more than 500 people as a lifeguard.
In 1978, Mr. Aikau joined the crew of a canoe voyage retracing the ancient Polynesian migration route between Hawaii and Tahiti. The vessel, the Hokulea, capsized off the coast of Lanai hours after setting sail. Mr. Aikau took his surfboard and paddled toward shore to get help. The rest of the crew was rescued, but Mr. Aikau was never seen again.
Being invited to the event is a sign of respect and recognition from the Aikau family, and for many big wave surfers, it’s the pinnacle of their careers. Even if the event doesn’t run, an Aikau nod is equivalent to a trip to the Super Bowl.
Surfers charge huge waves in hopes of being recognized and added to the list of honorees.
In 2023, the big-wave surfer Jojo Roper was on the North Shore of Oahu when the event was set to run. He wasn’t invited to compete, he said, but “my goal was to catch a wave before the contest. If you get a good wave before the contest, your name sparks a bit better.”
It was impossible to get to Waimea Bay by car, so he and a friend hopped on a jet ski in the dark at Sunset Beach, about three miles away, and drove around the outer reefs to the bay.
That morning, he dropped into a massive wave. The crowds on the cliff erupted.
Mr. Roper was invited to compete this year.
“I just hope I can control the emotions a little bit because it’s a lifetime goal,” he said on Saturday afternoon.
Just after 8 a.m. in Hawaii, the contest’s director, Liam McNamara, made the final call on a jam-packed beach. The event would run.
“The bay has made the call,” Mr. McNamara said.
Competing surfers include the Olympic surfing gold medalist Kauli Vaast; six previous Eddie winners, including John John Florence, Kelly Slater and Bruce Irons; and the defending champion, Luke Shepardson, a North Shore lifeguard who defeated world champion surfers to win the event in 2023.
Several North Shore legends, including Moana Jones Wong, Makua Rothman, Makani Adric, Jamie O’Brien and Mason Ho, will also compete.
This year, Ha’a Aikau, Eddie Aikau’s nephew, will surf in the event for the first time. He is the third member of the Aikau family to compete. Clyde Aikau, Eddie’s brother, last surfed the event in 2016, at 66 years old.
Each surfer competes in two heats and can surf a maximum of four waves per heat. Waves are scored by five judges on a scale of 1 to 20.
But, surfers said, the waves at Waimea seem to choose you. It feels less scientific or strategic than any of the other big-wave surf competitions.
“If Eddie chooses you to get those special waves, then it happens for you,” Mr. Mel said.
Still, the scores are almost beside the point. To surf the Eddie is to win.
“It’s almost like a Woodstock for surfing,” Mr. Mel said. He recalled surfing the event in 2016, when some people brought drums and would play them every time big waves came in.
“You’d be in the water and you’d hear the echo of the valley and the people beating these trash can lids and going wild,” he said. “You can fully feel it.”
“It’s this congregation,” he added. “Everyone’s a part of it. The crowds, the surfers, the water patrol, the lifeguards.”
That also includes the staff members of the Pupukea Grill. They have more competition than usual as locals set up barbecues alongside the road and bike along the crowds to sell sodas and waters.
Everyone working at the grill takes a break to get to the bay, too.
“I’ll definitely be at Waimea at some point,” Mr. Sweet said. “I’m just walking around checking out humanity.”
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