Landon McNamara says Eddie’s presence guided him in winning surf title

Landon McNamara is a musician and a model. After Sunday, he’s also the reigning champion of the world’s most prestigious big wave surf event.

McNamara captured the 11th Rip Curl Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, at Waimea Bay, where he grew up.

“This is a childhood dream of mine, something I worked on from when I was a little kid on the beach here, watching these events go down,” said McNamara, 28, after accepting the $50,000 winner’s check. “To win it back-to-back with my best friend, Luke (Shepardson, who won it in 2023). … I’m just soaking it in. I cried 10 times already. Grateful to be here, grateful to the Aikau family, grateful to my uncle, grateful to my dad, grateful to my partner and my son. Grateful to Eddie.”

McNamara was destined to surf big waves.

His father, Liam, is a retired pro surfer, and now contest director for The Eddie. Landon’s uncle, Garrett, is known for holding the record for the largest wave ever surfed.

But Landon said the man the contest is named after guided him to victory Sunday — in the form of an animal Hawaiians consider sacred.

“For real, I had a turtle I was following, both heats,” McNamara said. “To me that was Eddie. And they say Eddie picks the winner.”

Aikau is revered for saving more than 500 people as the first lifeguard on the North Shore, working at Waimea Bay, before he disappeared in 1978 when he swam for help from the capsized Polynesian sailing vessel, Hokulea.

McNamara’s win Sunday was highlighted by the event’s best ride, for which the judges gave him a perfect score.

The event was an early Christmas present for McNamara, and a crowd of fans surrounding Waimea Bay estimated at 50,000 by Honolulu police. This was just the third time The Eddie went off before Dec. 25.

Most years, this meet doesn’t happen at all. The Eddie is only contested if the waves are monstrous enough to challenge the world’s most fearless surfers. Face heights of the waves must be expected to consistently reach 40 feet during a holding period from mid-December to mid-March.

Sunday was just the 11th time that standard was expected when it was tentatively scheduled last week and then confirmed the morning of the event.

Some wave faces reached 50 feet during several surges throughout the day, but some lulls forced some of the surfers to hold back and wait for something juicier; they’re allowed just four rides in each of their two 45-minute heats.

Mason Ho finished second, with Billy Kemper taking third.

Shepardson — the lifeguard who won last year while on break from his job — made sure to take the day off this year. He was second and John John Florence first after the morning heats, and it looked like The Eddie might get its first repeat winner (Florence won in 2016). McNamara was fourth. And Zeke Lau, who was seventh after his first round, looked like he might have a shot after a sweet ride early in the afternoon surfing.

“I wasn’t thinking of defending the championship,” Shepardson said. “I’m just honored to be involved in something honoring Eddie. I didn’t get a lot of good waves in that second round, but it would be nice to be on the podium again.”

He did end up there, finishing sixth, behind Jamie O’Brien in fourth and Nic Lamb in fifth.

Greg Long, who won in 2009 and announced this would be his last Eddie, received the Aloha Spirit Award.