In a historic move for gender equity in surfing, the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Challenge, the oldest and most prestigious big-wave contest in the world, has invited nine women to its 34th annual event.
Raquel Heckert, an up-and-coming big-wave surfer from Brazil and one of the chosen alternates, received the news after a surf session at Sunset Beach on Oahu.
“Wow! It’s crazy, I never thought I’d be invited to the Eddie!” Heckert said. The 26-year-old, who won Extreme Boardriders’ award for Brazil’s biggest paddle-in wave surfed by a woman in 2019, says she hopes she can surf and survive the epic conditions.
Keala Kennelly, Paige Alms, Emily Erickson and Andrea Moller made the list of invitees. There was some confusion over some of the surfers’ invitations, including San Francisco local and outspoken gender-equity advocate Bianca Valenti. Valenti was listed as an alternate on the website, but initially received an invitation as a competitor.
“WOW! I am so so sooooo very deeply honored, and truly humbled, to receive an invitation to surf in this sacred big wave event. […] A small victory for me, and a big victory for women kind, a first in history. What a wonderful feeling to be invited to contribute to the legacy” of The Eddie, Valenti wrote in a post on her Facebook page Wednesday morning.
The Eddie organizers started sending apologies for the mixup later Wednesday. The final list of alternates includes Heckert, Justine Dupont, Silvia Nabuco and Laura Enever. The elite invitational competition historically has excluded female competitors, with the exception of Kennelly, who was invited to compete with 28 men last year.
The competition will be held only if worthy swells of consistent 40-foot waves materialize. The holding period starts Dec. 1 and continues until Feb. 29.
“I see this as a huge step forward,” says Sabrina Brennan, co-founder of the Committee for Equity in Women’s Surfing. “I hope that eventually we’ll get to a point … where there’s an equal number of men and women invited to compete … in a women’s division and a men’s division.”
Brennan added that it doesn’t yet make sense to invite an even number of men and women to events like the Eddie Aikau because not enough women are ready to surf waves of that size. For those who are, however, she believes this opportunity will help elevate the sport.
The first big-wave competition to include female surfers was the Pe’ahi Challenge in 2016 on Maui. Since then, CEWS members, among them Moller, Alms, Kennelly, Valenti and Heckert, successfully advocated for a heat for women at the Mavericks Challenge in Half Moon Bay with equal pay for men and women. The WSL later announced equal pay at all of its competitions.
The list of 32 invitees includes prominent male surfers John John Florence, Bruce Irons and Kelly Slater. Aside from Valenti, California is represented by Greg Long, the only surfer to win all premier big-wave competitions, and Nathan Fletcher. In the legends division, California’s Mike Parsons, former Guinness record holder for biggest wave surfed, has been invited, along with Mavericks pioneer Jeff Clark.
“The Eddie” opening ceremony will take place Dec. 5 in Waimea Bay on Oahu’s North Shore.
Michaela Vatcheva is a freelance writer.
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