John John Florence defeats Aussie Ross Clarke-Jones at big wave Eddie Aikau contest at Waimea Bay
IF legendary waterman Eddie Aikau were alive you’d have to think he’d be happy a Hawaiian wonder kid weaned on whitewater won the extraordinary event named in his memory.
IF legendary waterman Eddie Aikau were alive you’d have to think he’d be happy a Hawaiian wunderkind weaned on whitewater won the extraordinary event named in his memory.
That he’d be smiling when young gun John John Florence defeated Australian big wave elder statesman Ross Clarke-Jones yesterday in thunderous 40-foot-plus surf for victory in an event so extreme it has been held just nine times in 31 years.
Clarke-Jones, the only Australian to win the event 15 years ago, came close to repeating the feat at Waimea Bay despite injuring his ribs surfing earlier this month.
But Florence was having none of it. Considered the American understudy to 11-time world champion Slater, he secured his win and a US$75,000 prize purse in the dying minutes of the Eddie Aikau Big-Wave Invitational.
“It’s one of the most special moments of my life, for surf,” said Florence, whose feats were watched by an estimated 30,000 at the live site on the North Shore of Oahu.
“This event’s only run a couple times in my whole life, and for me to be a part of it is amazing.
“I’m just overwhelmed with adrenaline. Just from the whole day, looking at big ones like ‘ahh, am I gonna go or not?’”
The last time the event was on Florence was just 17, a precociously talented and popular surfer already courted by countless sponsors.
Today he is 23, a sponsor’s darling and with his name etched in history as winner of one of surfing’s most thrilling and dangerous sporting events in the world.
Aikau, for whom the event is named, was a lifesaver and big wave charger who saved more than 500 people before disappearing at sea.
His event is only held in 40-foot-plus waves and only a hand-picked selection of big wave surfers are invited to compete.
Originally published as John John Florence defeats Aussie Ross Clarke-Jones at big wave Eddie Aikau contest at Waimea Bay
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