Brock Little gives us his written excuse. We would have missed it too. 

I'm so bummed. I missed the "Quiksilver Eddie Aikau fueled by Monster Energy" (I'll call it the Eddie from now on) surf contest this year. About 2 weeks ago, I hurt my rib working on a movie. I flew into the corner of a table ribs first. I couldn't breath or barely move. After my breath came back, I stood up, and said I was fine. We did the stunt 4 or 5 more times. I was lucky, after the stunt, I got to lie down and play dead. Just doing that hurt like shit. Whatever, I made good money doing what I love. I still love going for it.

 

I wasn't worried about the Eddie, the opening ceremony was around 2 weeks away. They never have the contest till later on in the waiting period. About a week after I hurt my rib, I tried to surf small Waimea. I made a fool of myself, and almost had to get rescued. I could not paddle with my left arm, it was pain. It's weird, at this point in my life, I try not to let the Eddie rule me. I'm lucky, I make money working outside of surfing. Life is good. Who am I kidding, the Eddie is on my mind all year long. It sucks. This year I could have paddled out, sat on the shloulder and cheerled. I know I would have been looked at as a kook. Instead, I was on the mainland shooting a fake gun on the passenger side of a car.

In hindsight, I would do nothing different. If I surfed I would have surfed to survive. I want to be in it to win it. After watching the some of the webcast, i'm really bummed I wasn't healthy. Hopefully I'll be back next year. Whatever, this year hurt me mentally and physically.-- Brock