The title sponsorship of the iconic Eddie Aikau big wave surf contest is up in the air.
Contract talks have once again broken down between the Aikau family and longtime sponsor Quiksilver.
For more than 30 years, the two have partnered to put on the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay.
In a statement Sunday, the Aikau family said that after months of effort, it was unable to reach an agreement with Quiksilver for this year.
“When the family declined to surrender control of the Eddie for five years on the terms Quiksilver was demanding, Quiksilver terminated negotiations,” the Aikau family said.
Glen Moncata, Quiksilver vice president of sales and marketing in Hawaii, says he’s disappointed a deal couldn’t be reached.
“It just got to the point where there’s 40 days left. We just can’t do that, so we basically said we’re not going to negotiate this year, but in the future for the 2018 and 2019, we’ll be happy to sit at down with them and try to work something out,” Moncata said.
The family says it has a permit to hold an opening ceremony on Nov. 30, and if the waves are large enough, the event will go on.
The family previously told KHON2 it was in talks with other potential sponsors, but there’s no update on whether a sponsor has been secure.
It said Red Bull was very helpful in trying to reach an agreement with Quiksilver.
There was a similar situation last year, and it was feared that the contest would not go on, but at the last minute, the two sides reached an agreement.
Although in the end, Mother Nature failed to deliver the monster waves necessary to run the contest.
