“In knee deep water my board hit the back of my leg. I touched my leg and my fingers went in deep. A massive hole in my leg and what’s looking like a vascular injury … Crushed it ended this way but I had the most incredible morning ever beforehand. Thank you for all the love and thank you to spectators and Joey who helped me up the beach and lifeguards and emergency crew for looking after me.”

Enever has been contacted for further comment.

The 33-year-old travelled to Hawaii for the Eddie Invitational alongside good friend and fellow Australian Felicity Palmateer.

The pair were among the second female cohort invited to take part in one of surfing’s most intimidating events, joining the likes of Emily Erickson, Paige Alms and Justine Dupont, who is back in the water after giving birth to her son Elio in January.

While Enever’s first Eddie Invitational came to an abrupt end, and Hawaiian Mark Healy suffered a ruptured eardrum from a wipeout, Australian Ben Wilkinson also found himself caught in arguably the riskiest moment of the day when a series of bomb waves swept him towards the bay’s rocky outcrop, although he was able to scramble out of the situation between monster peaks.

As always, an all-star cast turned out for the “Super Bowl of surfing” 11th running in 40 years, led by reigning WSL champion John John Florence and Tahitian Olympic gold medallist Kauai Vaast.

Reigning 2023 Eddie champion and local lifeguard Luke Shepardson began the day with one of the biggest waves of the contest, and was joined by fellow lifeguard and former University of Hawaii running back Joey Cadiz in the line-up.

McNamara nailed the only perfect ride of the day to hold off fellow locals Mason Ho, Billy Kemper, Jamie O’Brien and Nathan Florence.

“This is a childhood dream of mine, something I’ve been dreaming of since being a little kid on the beach watching these events go down,” McNamara said.

“I’ve already cried 10 times. I’m just soaking up this moment … I’m grateful to Eddie. In both my heats I had a turtle I was following [in the water]. To me, that was Eddie. They say Eddie picks the winner, and I’m just so grateful he picked me.”

McNamara was awarded $US50,000 ($80,000) and 350,000 Hawaiian Airline miles for his first place finish.

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