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*** Official The Eddie Big Wave Invitational Thread ***
- Thread starter kelly7873
- Start date
I almost turned it off during the first heat of the day. Conditions didn't seem worthy in that heat. Glad I stuck with it. This contest got better and better the whole day. I thought Billy Kemper was a solid second place but other than that the judges got it right.
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That was pretty cool. Every time I think I'm over Slater's trip he surprises me.
Luke was on the main list. The 3 surfers who dropped out were Nathan Florence with a broken back, Kelly wasn't "feeling" it and JOB who is in Japan with his girl friend.
The 3 who got in were Mikey Red, Kahea Hart (who the announcers think looks like Slater) and Chris Owens who the announcers never figured out wasn't JOB.
Kelly said he didn't surf to give up a spot for Owens, a long time Waimea local who has never surfed the Eddie.
The announcers also thought Nathan Fletcher (goofy) was Andrea Moller (regular).
It wasn't all the announcers fault. Why couldn't they get an updated heat sheet? They keep saying they didn't have a spotter, why couldn't they find a volunteer with a pair of binoculars? It seemed like every time there were two goofy footed surfers in the same heat they would make them red and orange or yellow and white.
Over all I think they put on a great contest, I was sure they were going to screw it up. I've rewatched some of the contest with the score sheet and the judges aren't seeing what I'm seeing but they got the winner right. I figured I missed a couple of JJF's waves but no, they were just over scored from what I could see on video. Plus John makes it look too easy.
It wasn't all the announcers fault. Why couldn't they get an updated heat sheet? They keep saying they didn't have a spotter, why couldn't they find a volunteer with a pair of binoculars? It seemed like every time there were two goofy footed surfers in the same heat they would make them red and orange or yellow and white.
Over all I think they put on a great contest, I was sure they were going to screw it up. I've rewatched some of the contest with the score sheet and the judges aren't seeing what I'm seeing but they got the winner right. I figured I missed a couple of JJF's waves but no, they were just over scored from what I could see on video. Plus John makes it look too easy.
I'm afraid they're island boys, that's why:
Stoked for Luke Shephardson.
The only thing that would've been better is if he was wearing his lifeguard trunks while he competed.
Im glad Kemper didnt pull the wool over the eyes of the judges with all his claiming. Obviously he couldnt see the others riding. The judges got it right.
I was one of the (paid) spotters along with Ben Aipa and Matt Nielson during the 1990 Eddie. They should have called me again!
Spotting at that contest was so challenging. If memory serves there were 11 people in each heat (1990). We had to guess a few times which probably sucked for the competitors.
nobody in the scaffolding tower or on site was relaying scores or leaderboard to commentary team (who were In a makeshift studio on someone’s lanai in Mililani). I don’t blame them trying to do this, making a studio on site is expensive and a lot can go wrong with no solutions especially at Waimea. So Calls and texts to Waimea weren’t being responded too, I’m guess cell tower jammed with thousands of people on site with their phones and socials running. could it have been better? Sure. was it kinda cool not knowing the scores and just watching every ride? yes. Would I be working on a marquee sponsor and media partner today? YES.
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My guess is the way to handle all the streaming bandwidth requirements was to set up a temporary microwave link to a local fiber internet hub. Like you said, too many subscribers trying to access the same cellular base stations at once and tying-up all the backhaul.
Or just use coconut wireless.
