Eddie Aikau, Opening Ceremony

I've made it to the actual contests that have gone off while I've lived here, but never made it to the Opening Ceremony before.  This is the sport that I'm a big fan of.  Other people have football or soccer, but surfing is exciting for me.  The very cool thing about this is, the athletes are right there next to you walking down the beach to the water.

Some well knowns here including: Keone Downing, Michael Ho, Ross Clarke Jones, and yes that's Kelly Slater on the far right.

Kala Alexander

Ramon Navarro

Sunny Garcia about to head out.

Peter Mel, I believe

The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational is a one day event.  It only occurs if the waves are consistently 20' or bigger and conditions are good.  The holding period is Dec.1-Feb.29.  The conditions have only been right 8 times out of the 26 years it's been in existence.  I've been lucky enough to witness 3 of those days;  truly amazing to watch.  This past January the waves got up to 20', but it was inconsistent and it didn't go off.  Let's hope nature sends big waves this winter!