Surfpolitik Jeremy Flores Keeps Company With Eddie Aikau

In: Surfpolitik by Stu Nettle 27 Comments Thu 27th Oct '11

Tags: jeremy flores , eddie aikau , ken collins , big waves , billabong xxl , Quiksilver

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The invitees to the 27th Eddie Aikau Invitational - the most prestigious big wave event in the world - will be announced early next week. 24 surfers will be on the invite list, plus 24 on an alternates list, but no-one knows for sure whose names will be on them.

Except for one name: Jeremy Flores.

It was announced last month that Flores had been given an invite and would be competing in the Eddie. The news was met with surprise amongst the big wave elite as Flores isn't a known big wave surfer. He had a good performance at Teahupoo this year but that's about all. In Eddie-size waves Flores is completely untested.

Last January, as a large swell bore down on Hawaii putting the Eddie Aikau competitors on alert, Flores wrote on his blog that he was hoping to paddle out the Bay 'just to get a feeling of what monster waves are like'. Judging by that blog entry Flores is keen and curious about big Hawaiian waves, a point that should be noted, but so too should the fact he needed to borrow a 9'0 board from Sunny Garcia – it appears he didn't own a big board himself.

Contrast this against someone like Ken 'Skindog' Collins who has an armoury of big wave guns and has spent twenty years putting them to use. "Watching Jeremy Flores fast track into the event really bums me out," said Skinny when I spoke to him about Flores' invite.

Skindog is torn on the issue, he's trying to draw attention while not wanting to look like a hater. "I've got nothing against him, he is a great person and a great surfer. He is just not proven in the big wave arena." Skindog is also torn on the company motives, "The big wave arena is a very prestigious place to be honoured, and it seems with surf companies running events with their own agenda that this arena is being corrupted."

Jeremy Flores, as you may or may not know, is sponsored by Quiksilver, who run the Eddie Aikau Invitational.

Sponsor wildcards are an accepted feature of ASP World Tour contests – a bonus for the company that ponies up the prizemoney - but spots in the Eddie are more prized than the money itself. Handing out the equivalent of a sponsor wildcard to a greenhorn may be Quiksilver's prerogative but they run the risk of jeopardising the competition's accumulated prestige.

And it's not just Quiksilver says Skinny, "At the Billabong XXL awards last year, four out of the five awards were given to Billabong team riders."

If he's troubled by some issues surrounding big wave riding, on others he's perfectly clear, "The real deal cannot be faked. Once the line in the sand is drawn only a handful of men will step up and paddle in. Authentic and genuine men like Eddie Aikau."

In one last proclamation Skindog passionately tells me, "I really, really want to surf in the Eddie." On November 1st we'll find out if he, like Jeremy Flores, will get that honour.

STOP PRESS: Quiksilver has just released the invite list:
Brock Little - HAW 
Bruce Irons - HAW 
Clyde Aikau - HAW 
Dave Wassel - HAW 
Greg Long - USA 
Jamie O'Brien – HAW 
Jamie Sterling – HAW 
Kala Alexander – HAW 
Kelly Slater – USA 
Keone Downing – HAW 
Kohl Christensen – HAW 
Makua Rothman – HAW 
Mark Healey – HAW 
Michael Ho – HAW 
Nathan Fletcher – USA 
Noah Johnson – HAW 
Peter Mel – USA 
Ramon Navarro – CHL 
Reef McIntosh – HAW 
Ross Clarke – Jones – AUS 
Rusty Keaulana – HAW 
Shane Dorian – HAW 
Sunny Garcia – HAW 
Tom Carroll – HAW 

INT'L INVITEES: 
Carlos Burle - BRZ 
Grant Baker - ZAF 
Jeremy Flores - EUR 
Takayuki Wakita - JPN 

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