On the eve of the Eddie, Shepardson attended a retirement party for a co-worker and went home to prepare. Because the event is scheduled without advance notice as wave-producing storms suddenly generate in the Pacific, Shepardson was unable to request time off work, but his captain found a solution: Shepardson would be assigned to lifeguard at Waimea and use his breaks to surf his two heats. 22, when one of the largest swells to ever hit Waimea allowed the Eddie to go. He’s been welcomed back to the Eddie every year since, although the contest went on a six-year drought due to unreliable wave conditions. The following year, Shepardson was invited. He was discharged and made it back to Waimea just in time to surf again after the Eddie had ended. After falling on a huge wave, he was rescued, placed on a stretcher, and taken to a trauma center an hour away in Honolulu for evaluation. Shepardson was not on the coveted list, but he paddled out to the giant surf at dawn along with dozens of recreational surfers and invitees warming up for the contest. Instead, they must prove their ability in large surf and be selected by the Aikau family. Unlike traditional competitions, surfers cannot enter the Eddie by earning points at qualifier events.

Created in honor of the late Waimea Bay lifeguard and waterman Eddie Aikau, and sponsored in part by Hawaiian Airlines since 2019, it requires waves to be consistently in the 20-feet-plus range (or 40-feet measured from the bottom to the crest of the wave) with favorable winds. In 2016, as a massive swell headed to Waimea Bay, organizers of The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational – the world’s most prestigious event of its kind – gave the greenlight to run the contest for just the ninth time since 1985. I got into the next lifeguard trials a few weeks later.” Following His PassionĪ lifeguard since 2019, Shepardson never stopped surfing – especially when the waves got big. I missed a good Pipe(line) swell and quit the next day. I tried electrician work first, for the money, but I wasn’t happy. But before the contest, I knew it was my last one. “Once I gave up on trying hard, I did good. “My son was three months old, and I made the semifinals,” Shepardson said, smiling. Ironically, once Shepardson decided to hang his contest jersey, he achieved one of his best results at Sunset Beach – one of Hawaiʻi’s most iconic and powerful surf breaks. “I also had my first son and figured I’d need a solid job.” “I gave up on my dream in my early 20s - it started getting late,” Shepardson, now 27, said pragmatically. He dropped out of Kahuku High School in ninth grade (later earning a General Education Diploma) and taught surf lessons to fund his travels.īut after years of competing and even securing sponsors, Shepardson abruptly quit. Along the way, he earned the nickname “Casual Luke” for his mellow, easygoing – almost non-competitive – approach to riding waves of consequence. Shepardson’s surfing evolved as he participated in Hawaiʻi Amateur Surfing Association events around the island with his sights on a professional career. A young Luke Shepardson with his father, Mark Shepardson

Eddie aikau essay contest