WET AND WILD WITH ROCKIN’ FIG:Waiting for big waves to arrive

One last biggie to go on the North Shore of Hawaii — that’s the Quicksilver Big Wave Invitational, in memory of Eddie Aikau.

But this Assn. of Surfing Professionals specialty event needs one thing, and that’s HUGE surf. The waiting period has already started, but they need 20-foot surf, Hawaiian Style, or 25-foot to 35-foot-plus wave faces to get it rolling.

Contest director George Downing, a big-wave legend himself, has been tracking the storms and waiting for the surf alert to happen. When it does, 24 surfers have 24 hours to get to Waimea Bay for the event, which has been running for 22 years.

In the “Eddie,” it’s just paddle-ins. Surfers are allowed to catch three or four waves in their heats, with two rounds, and the best-of-four wave tally will take the win.

I can still remember back in 2004 when Bruce Irons caught that bomb right outside, rode it across the bay, reformed it into a big thundering close-out barrel inside, pulled into it with style, then got demolished — but still won!

All the big-wave chargers are in, plus eight-time world champ Kelly Slater, a former winner who has an invite, too. So, when the surf’s up, the contest is on for men who ride mountains.

There has been a lot of activity, storms up in the Gulf of Alaska, so it might happen soon. The big northwest mack daddy could be on the way in the next couple weeks. And when it’s biggest, you might be feeling a little scared. With a big lump in your throat, the word is “Eddie Would Go!”

Over in Australia, they’ve been running the Billabong World Junior Championships. The surfs been around the 3-foot range at North Narrabeen Beach in Sydney.

They held round one, and taking some wins in the early goings were Aussies Dion Atkinson, Matt Wilkinson and Mitch Coleborn.

The Hawaiians have been ripping with T.J. Barron, Hank “the G-Man” Gaskel, the Big Island’s Torry Meister and Mason Ho taking firsts.

South Africa’s Jordy Smith, Japan’s Hideyoshi Tanaka and Brazil’s Adriano de Souza, the 2003 winner, also won their heats.

The U.S.’s Eric Geiselman and Nick Rozsa placed third in the first round, but will still surf again.

Standouts in the women’s competitions have been Australian Stephanie Gilmore and Hawaiian Coco Ho, while Newport Beach’s Erica Hosseini placed second and France’s Lee Ann Curren third in the first round.

We had some overhead surf New Year’s day at our Surf City beaches. The Cliffs had some 10-footers with a bit of drift, and the pier had a couple of 8-foot freight trainers lining up, too.

I even saw a couple of snapped boards out there — ouch — as surfers were trying to get a jump on getting wet with more surf time this year! Happy New Year. Fig over and out.