You’ve probably heard the news by now – the 2016 Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau is a go. With the contest’s unique format and hour long heats optimizing each surfer’s opportunity to rack up the best results possible, the lineup for each heat is a major factor in determining a champ. In fact, even in the midst of an already historic winter the reason the green light hasn’t come until now has been to ensure it all goes down on a day where surfers in the last heat are paddling into the same conditions (and size) seen in the first heat.
And that brings us to scoping out the matchups for the day. 28 surfers broken into four heats with five alternates waiting in the wings. The first thing that pops out is just how stacked the first heat of the day is going to be. Five of the Eddie’s eight champions are in this year’s event and two of them are going to be in the water in Heat 1: defending champ Greg Long and 2000/2001 winner Ross Clarke-Jones. Joining them is a shortlist of big wave surfing royalty. Shane Dorian, Sunny Garcia and Ramon Navarro just to name a few. Needless to say Heat 1 might look the most exciting on paper, but oh yeah, the rest of the day looks pretty stacked too.
Heat 1:
Shane Dorian (HAW)
Kohl Christensen (HAW)
Greg Long (CA)
Ramon Navarro (CHI)
Sunny Garcia (HAW)
Ross Clarke-Jones (AUS)
Jamie Mitchell (AUS)
Heat 2:
Kelly Slater (FL)
David Wassell (HAW)
Grant Baker (ZAF)
Reef McIntosh (HAW)
Jamie O’Brien (HAW)
Aaron Gold (HAW)
Tom Carroll (AUS)
Heat 3:
John John Florence (HAW)
Mark Healey (HAW)
Clyde Aikau (HAW)
Nathan Fletcher (CA)
Noah Johnson (HAW)
Peter Mel (CA)
Takayuki Wakita (JPN)
Heat 4:
Bruce Irons (HAW)
Makuakai Rothman (HAW)
Ian Walsh (HAW)
Albee Layer (HAW)
Kala Alexander (HAW)
Garrett McNamara (HAW)
Jeremy Flores (FRA)
So who’s your pick?
