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Edward Ryon Makuahanai Aikau also known as Eddie was born on May 4th 1946 in Kahului, Maui.
In 1959 at the age of 13 his family moved to O`ahu.
When he was 16 he bought his first surfboard and became a Waikiki surf bum. Surfing everyday after school, before school, and even during school when there were good waves.
As a result he dropped out of school. Eddie soon acquired a passion for saving people after rescuing some tourists from the shore break.
With no high school education in 1968 he became the first lifeguard of the North Shore which covered beaches from Sunset to Hale`iwa which stretched for about 8 miles.
Eddie was the only one willing to go out in those waves to rescue people and not one life was lost during his watch. In 1971 the city and county of Honolulu named him lifeguard of the year.
He was very humble in the sense that he never seeked thank yous or rewards. His mentality was simply this, he just couldn’t watch helpless people be taken by the sea, he never let anyone go.
As a surfer Eddie braised surf that reach 20 ft high or more to make a rescue. He became very famous for surfing the big Hawaiian surf and won many surfing awards including 1st place at the prestige 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship.
There’s a local Hawaiian saying “Eddie would go” which referred to his stoke to take on big waves that other surfers would shy away from and his courage to make a rescue in impossible situations.
In 1976 the Polynesian voyaging society sailed the Hokule`a, a double-hulled canoe, on a successful 30 day, 2500-mile journey following the ancient route of the Polynesian migration between the Hawaiian and Tahitian islands.
In 1978 a second voyage of the traditional sailing canoe was planned. At 31 years of age Aikau was selected for this voyage as a crewmember. The Hokule`a left the Hawaiian Islands on March 16, 1978.
The double-hulled voyaging canoe developed a leak in one of the hulls and later capsized in stormy weather about 12 miles south of the island of Moloka`i.
In an attempt to get to land to save his crew and the Hokule`a, Aikau paddled toward Lana`i on his surfboard.
He tied the surfboard leash to his ankle and a portable strobe light and some oranges around his neck and hesitantly he tied a life jacket around his waist. Eddie estimated it would take 5 hours to reach land.
As he paddled away, crewmembers held hands and said a prayer. Some saw Eddie ditch the clumsy life jacket a few hundred feet from the canoe hull.
Others saw him on his knees paddling strongly the board riding up and over grumbling white caps peaking into sight smaller and smaller as he stroked away.
Hours later a commercial airplane spotted the Hokule`a and the rest of the crew was soon rescued by the US Coast guard.
The search for Eddie was the largest rescue search in Hawaii history but Eddie was never seen again. He was pronounced dead on March 17, 1978.
A memorial of Eddie Aikau was mounted at Waimea Bay Beach Park. In his honor the surf wear company Quiksilver sponsors “The Eddie “ the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay.
This even held in his name waits each winter for the kind of surf he made his own and only invites 28 big wave riders to participate in two rounds of competition.
There’s a precondition that open ocean swells reach a minimum of 20 feet which translates to a wave face height of over 30 feet.
Those are the kinds of waves Eddie would have charged cause Eddie would go. The event doesn't allow the use of jet skis to tow surfers into the waves because Eddie would not have wanted that.
To this day, Eddie Aikau is a legend in Hawaii and an inspiration to us all.