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Posted on: Sunday, July 2, 2006

Eddie Aikau

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Advertiser library photo

Eddie would go. Because of the feats of one man — Eddie Aikau — those three words have become part of Hawai'i folklore.

In Hawai'i's storied history of surfing, Aikau is the tragic hero.

He was lost at sea in March 1978 during a solo rescue attempt for the Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hokule'a. His body was never found, but his life accomplishments are now legend.

Best known for his uncanny ability to surf giant waves, Aikau was one of the world's top-ranked surfers in the 1970s.

But perhaps his true calling was saving lives.

Aikau, who would have been 60 this year, was a North Shore lifeguard in the 1960s and '70s. In 1971, he became the first lifeguard to work at Waimea Bay, where the heights of wave faces can approach 50 feet during the winter months.

Yet it was his passion for saving lives that may have cost him his own.

Only hours after departing from Honolulu for a voyage to Tahiti, the Hokule'a capsized in the treacherous Kaiwi Channel.

Aikau, a volunteer member of the crew, attempted to paddle a surfboard to Lana'i in an effort to get help for the vessel and the crew. He was never seen again. The Hokule'a and its crew were spotted and rescued a few hours after Aikau departed.

Aikau's myth-like status is rekindled every winter during the Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay. The contest can be held only on a day when wave faces are at least 40 feet high.

Eddie Would Go — the theme of the contest and the embodiment of Aikau's spirit — can now be seen virtually everywhere in Hawai'i, on bumper stickers and T-shirts.