From the Big Island and Oahu (Eddie Aikau) The Quicksilver Eddie Aikau (QEA) Memorial surf contest is held once a year conditions permitting. Waves must be in excess of 20 feet to be held. This year, renowned to be one of the best, waves were 20-30 with faces up to 50 and very little wind early on. Over 20,000 people poured into the area - with only one 2-lane road in and out. Surf was up over the road. Only 24 surfers are invited to participate. The announcement that the contest will be held is given only 24 hours in advance due to changing surf conditions. One person flew in from Australia last minute and won second and $15,000. The winner, from Hawaii won a total of $55,000. The surf breaks fast such that you are in the wave only a few seconds and then you surf the white-water which can have secondary breaks. I learned that as a photographer, you have to be right on it due to the small amount of time. I was relegated to using manual focus due to Sigma's weak AF and for one reason or another lost many shots due to soft images. The surfers are way off-shore and even shooting with 400mm x 1.7 was a stretch. Ocean spray was another factor creating a mist, often when shooting. One gigantic wave broke about a mile off shore and someone surfed it. He looked like an ant in a haystack, even at 400mm (x 1.7). Eddie Aikau images are marked as such.