![]() ![]() Since its inception (the first Eddie was held at Sunset Beach in 1985 in 1987 Eddie Aikau's younger brother Clyde Aikau won the first Eddie after it moved to Waimea Bay), the tournament has only been held nine times, due to a precondition that open-ocean swells reach a minimum of 20 feet (this translates to a wave face height of over 30 feet). The idea of the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational was created by Bruce Raymond and Bob McKnight. In Aikau's honor, the surfwear company Quiksilver sponsors “The Eddie”-the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay. The ensuing search for Aikau was the largest air-sea search in Hawaiian history. He removed his lifejacket since it was hindering his paddling of the surfboard. Coast Guard Cutter Cape Corwin, Aikau was never seen again. Although the rest of the crew were later rescued by the U.S. In an attempt to get help, Aikau paddled toward Lānaʻi on his surfboard. The double-hulled voyaging canoe developed a leak in one of the hulls and later capsized about twelve miles (19 km) south of the island of Molokaʻi. The Hōkūleʻa left the Hawaiian islands on March 16, 1978. At 31 years of age, Aikau joined the voyage as a crew member. In 1978, the Polynesian Voyaging Society was seeking volunteers for a 30-day, 2,500-mile (4,000 km) journey to follow the ancient route of the Polynesian migration between the Hawaiian and Tahitian island chains. In 1971, Aikau was named Lifeguard of the Year. Not one life was lost while he served as lifeguard of Waimea Bay, as he braved waves that often reached 30 feet (9.1 m) high or more. The City & County of Honolulu gave Aikau the task of covering all of the beaches between Sunset and Haleiwa. In 1968, he became the first lifeguard hired by the City & County of Honolulu to work on the North Shore. He moved to O ʻahu with his family in 1959, and at the age of 16 left school and started working at the Dole pineapple cannery The paycheck allowed Aikau to buy his first surfboard. Aikau first learned how to surf at Kahului Harbor on its shorebreak. He was a descendant of Hewahewa, the kahuna nui (high priest) of King Kamehameha I and his successor Kamehameha II. 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.Born in Kahului, Maui, Aikau was the third child of Solomon and Henrietta Aikau. 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.
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