#TwiggyWouldGo!
Thursday 25 February 2016 Giant surf surged across Waimea Bay as the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau was called on. Twiggy even went BASE jumping on a beast of a thing that had the crowd gasping in horror. Check the vid!
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Grant Twiggy Baker, in the second heat of the day, decided to go BASE jumping on an unmakeable wave. Everyone held their breath. It looked like it was tickets for his injured back, which has kept him from big wave surfing lately.
He spent some time floating in the channel. Everyone feared the worst. Fortunately for us and the Durbanite, he was merely collecting his thoughts and paddled back out. The heat ended before he could catch a wave.
It was awesome to see 66-year-old Clyde Aikau, brother of Eddie, paddle out in Heat 3. This is going to be his last event. He is the oldest, with ballieman Tom Carrol next in line aged 54.
GNARLY! Giant waves greeted thousands of fans at Waimea Bay this morning. Photo WSL / Heff
Conditions are absolutely giant, with some cleanup set waves obliterating the lineup. At times, an awed silence swept the beach as giant set waves simply engulfed any human being foolish enough to be in the say. Some wave faces must have been 60 feet high. People had been queuing all night. It certainly looks set to be the day of days with the swell of the century virtually.
They are called it the Brock Swell. The buoy at Waimea was measuring 20 feet at 18 seconds, but in reality the surf from that was waaay bigger.
There are 28 invitees, including defending Eddie winner and BWT current rankings’ leader Greg Long (USA); Clyde Aikau (HAW), Eddie’s brother and winner of the second Eddie event; and 11-time World Champion and 2001/2002 Eddie winner Kelly Slater (USA).
STICK FIGURE: Twiggy Baker will not forget this freefall for some time, like forever. Pic WSL
According to the press release, "In the six years since this event last ran, technology has advanced considerably in the world of big wave riding and this will be the first year that participants have the option of wearing a specially designed inflatable vest. To ensure surfers safety, Quiksilver has developed in collaboration with Aqua Lung a new generation of big wave equipment, the newly released Quiksilver x Aqua Lung Inflatable Vest. This will be vital equipment for athletes given today’s conditions."