Luke Shepardson is crowned winner of The Eddie

The Eddie, a lifeguard competition sponsored by Honolulu Ocean Safety, is won by Luke Shepardson. Today in Waimea Bay, Luke Shepardson defeated reigning champion John John Florence to win the 2023 Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surf competition.For the tenth anniversary of the competition, tens of thousands of surf enthusiasts flocked to Oahu's North Shore. Mark Healey finished in third position, followed by Florence.On February 25, 2016, Hawaii's John John Florence won the competition, which was then known as the Quicksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau. This was the last time "The Eddie" was conducted.About 40 of the best big-wave surfers in the world, including six women for Despite being formed in 1984, the competition has only ever been staged nine times since a winter north swell was big enough to meet Eddie's wave-height standards.Waimea Bay's waves must regularly be comparable to around 40 feet (about 20 feet Hawaiian-style) in order to run the competition.The contest's organiser and the renowned waterman's brother, Clyde Aikau, predicted that today's waves will be between 50 and 60 feet high.It was anticipated that the event would draw more than 20,000 spectators, while projections for the 2016 competition ranged as high as 50,000.Today's Waimea Bay was already crowded with hundreds of spectators before sunrise, and traffic was sluggish for kilometres in both directions. Ocean Safety in Honoluluthe first time, will compete this year.Despite being launched in 1984, the competition has only been held nine and Emergency Medical Services workers were kept busy this morning with several rescues, including a baby who was washed beneath a house by a wave.