Rip Curl to sponsor Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational

The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational has secured a new sponsor. On Monday, Rip Curl broke the news of a brand new partnership with the competition ahead of the forthcoming event this winter—its 40th year at Waimea Bay, Oʻahu.

Following a three-decade partnership with Quiksilver, which ceased in 2017, the event has relied on diverse brands and businesses for support. However, it hasn’t enjoyed significant backing from a surf-related company since Quiksilver’s departure.

“We are very proud to partner with a brand like Rip Curl. Everyone knows the brand and I know my brother, Eddie, would also be proud,” said Clyde Aikau, brother of Eddie Aikau.

The competition was established in memory of the late Aikau, a Hawaiian surfer and lifeguard born in Kahului, Maui. In 1969, Aikau was hired by the City & County of Honolulu as the first lifeguard on the North Shore, when no motorized watercrafts were used for rescues, only a surfboard and fins. Hundreds of people were rescued while Eddie was a lifeguard and no lives were lost.

A lifelong advocate for Hawaiʻi’s culture and people, on March 16, 1978, Aikau set out on the Hōkūle‘a, a 60-foot traditional Hawaiian voyaging canoe, with a crew of fellow Hawaiian sailors. The vessel set sail from Oʻahu on a 30-day, 2,500-mile voyage that was intended to travel to Tahiti and illustrate how Polynesians were able to traverse the wide, expansive openness of the Pacific Ocean. As the Hōkūle‘a passed by the island of Molokaʻi, one of the hulls began to leak and the boat capsized. Aikau famously set off on his surfboard to paddle for help. The crew was eventually rescued, but tragically, Aikau was never seen again.

“The Eddie honors the remarkable character and values displayed by Eddie Aikau during his career as a heroic lifeguard, big wave surfer and crew member of the Hawaiian voyaging canoe, Hōkūle‘a. Our partnership with Rip Curl, an international organization, will give us the opportunity to share the Aloha Spirit that Eddie Aikau exemplified, with a worldwide audience,” said Linda Ipsen, president of the Eddie Aikau Foundation. 

If it runs this season from Dec. 14, 2024 to March 13, 2025, it will be just the 11th time it has been called on, due to its commitment to running only in the heaviest Hawaiian conditions. The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational requires a “full day of consistent 25-foot surf to be called on.”

The last running of the event in 2023 saw North Shore lifeguard Luke Shepardson take the win in legendary fashion. In a full-circle moment, Shepardson had been scheduled to work the lifeguard tower at Waimea the day of the Eddie and took breaks during his shift to go surf his heats. Eventually he went on to win the contest in front of nearly 50,000 fired up fans on the beach, as well as an online audience of an estimated 3.5 million.

Other previous winners of the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational include 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater, two-time World Champion John John Florence, as well as big-wave icons Greg Long and Bruce Irons, and the first ever winner of the Eddie, Clyde Aikau.

Rip Curl says to stay tuned for more details on the new deal in the future.

“It is an incredible honour for Rip Curl to be a partner of the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational,” said Brooke Farris, CEO of Rip Curl.