![]() Today, the Eddie Aikau Foundation and a surfing competition in his name carry on the legacy of a Hawaiian hero who would have been 73. When we went back down, we couldn’t find it, or it was gone.” ![]() “We pulled up to get our bearings - we didn’t have navigation equipment then like we do now - and lost it beneath us. It’s always haunted me,” said helicopter pilot Tom Hauptmann in a story in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1998. “We saw the board, I’m sure of it, and about a hundred yards away from the board, something orange in the sea. Aikau’s body was never found, despite “ the largest air-sea rescue effort in modern Hawaiian history.” Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was rescued by the U.S. The ship sprung a leak shortly into the 2,500-mile journey and Aikau paddled on his surfboard toward the Hawaiian island of Lānaʻi to get help. He was 31 in 1978, and volunteered to recreate the voyage between Hawaii and Tahiti aboard a double-hulled canoe called a Hōkūleʻa. He died tragically in the waters where he spent much of his life. Īikau, was, by many accounts, a quiet, introspective man. Various accounts online, like one at , show how Eddie Would Go has become a philosophy among surfers. “Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau” debuted on ESPN’s “30 for 30” series but can also be viewed on YouTube at the following link. She shares with the interviewer that all she kept repeating in her head was, “Go, Eddie, Go. But where does it come from? It comes from a fellow Hokulea crew member, who watched as Eddie paddled away on his surfboard. There’s even t-shirts and other memorabilia to go with that saying. We see that on car bumpers and shop windows everywhere. The most revealing perhaps was the reason for the very popular saying, “Eddie Would Go.” Regardless, it’s nice to make all those connections when watching his documentary. He spoke in heavy Pidgin-English, which you don’t hear too often nowadays. ![]() I really enjoyed watching the segments with vintage footage of Eddie, especially when he spoke. The documentary shows actual footage of his winning speech, which ended with his dedication to “all the Hawaiians!” He tried year after year to place first, but it wasn’t until much later (and older) that he finally did. 'Eddie was a pretty quiet guy, but when there was a challenge, or some risk to be taken, or a game to. He was the second-oldest of the five Aikau kids and the leader of their pack from their earliest days on Maui to their surfing days on the South and North Shore of Oahu. He had a flawless rescue record as the first lifeguard at Waimea Bay, saving nearly 500 lives!Įddie also displayed a persistent and determined attitude throughout his life most notably, through the Duke Kahanamoku Classic, a big-wave competition on Oahu’s North Shore. Edward Ryon Makuahanai Aikau was born in Kahului, Hawaii, on May 4, 1946. First off, Eddie fit the criteria as not only a pioneer big-wave surfer but an all-around waterman as well. He was a “legend” for risking his life to help others, but after watching the very moving documentary on Eddie, called “Hawaiian,” I now understand that there was much more to this Hawaiian surfer than most realize. In school, we learned that after the Hokulea capsized during its 1978 maiden voyage, Eddie volunteered to paddle his surfboard and get help for fellow crew members but never made it. To be honest, that’s all I really knew about him. Ask anyone from Hawaii, and they’ll tell you that Hawaiian big-wave surfer Eddie Aikau died a legend.
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