Saturday, January 2, 1999
By Pierre Tostee, Special to the Star-Bulletin
Noah Johnson slices across a 25-foot wave at Waimea Bay
during the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau surf meet
yesterday. The ride helped him win the top prize of $55,000.
Noah Johnson of Hilo, at 5-foot-6 one of the smaller surfers in the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau surf meet at Waimea Bay yesterday, caught a 25-foot wave and rode it to victory and the top prize of $55,000. Hilo’s Johnson
wins Aikau
big-wave bashAustralia's Tony Ray took the runner-up prize of $10,000 and John "Johnny Boy" Gomes pocketed $5,000 for third place.
Peter Mel of Santa Cruz, Calif. ($3,000), and Rusty Keaulana ($2,000) and Tony Moniz of Hawaii ($1,000) finished 4-5-6, respectively.
Twenty-four daredevils competed in the big-wave contest, an Association of Surfing Professionals specialty event that has been held just 3-1/2 times since it was started 21 years ago. It is named after former Honolulu lifeguard Eddie Aikau. He was a crew member aboard the Hawaiian sailing canoe Hokule'a when it overturned in the Molokai Channel and he was lost at sea after volunteering to go for help on a 10-foot surfboard.
Results in Scoreboard
