Wood Water Soul - Eddie Aikau

Eddie would go

Eddie Aikau has always been a legend to me since Darrick Doerner told me about him. I have no personal connection other than spending an hour as the sun was coming up in Darrick’s house and staring at one of the trophys Darrick earned, thinking of what it must have been like to know and experience Eddie’s spirit.

So let’s take a deeper dive into who he was. Born on Maui in 1946, he moved with his family to Oahu in 1959, the same time both Paul Strauch, Jr. and Gerry Lopez were in the water. At sixteen, he quit school and worked in a canning factory to buy his first surfboard. In 1968, he became the first lifeguard hired by the City & County of Honolulu to work on the North Shore. The City & County of Honolulu gave Eddie the task of covering all of the beaches between Sunset and Haleiwa. Not one life was lost while he served as the lifeguard of Waimea Bay. He braved waves that often reached thirty feet (a little over nine meters) high or more and saved the lives of more than five hundred swimmers. If you’ve ever been to the North Shore and seen the size of the surf, the saving of over five hundred lives is a superhuman feat. When a swimmer was in trouble in thirty foot waves breaking on the reef, Eddie would go get them. Darrick was also a lifeguard on the North Shore, and my personal experience him and the stories he told were that these lifeguards were superhumans.

Eddie was known for his calm, fearless demeanor in the face of some of the world’s most dangerous surf. Waimea Bay, Sunset Beach. The Pipeline became his proving grounds, where his mastery of big wave surfing set him apart from others. In 1971, he was the Lifeguard of the Year. He won the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational, one of the most prestigious big-wave surfing events of the time.

When the waves were the biggest, Eddie would go, be it to save a life or have a good time. There were variations of “Eddie Would Go”, "Eddie wouldn't crow" (in opposition to boastful and egotistical surfers), and "Eddie would hoe" (in support of Native Hawaiian agricultural outreach programs); there was also “Eddie Wouldn’t Tow”. I’ll leave the last one alone. He became a mentor to younger lifeguards and surfers, teaching them not just about ocean safety, but also about Hawaiian culture and the importance of living with aloha. This is the spirit we need to find ourselves with every day, whether it’s surfing or anything else. His can-do attitude demands respect.

Eddie’s story has a rather unhappy ending, but it’s nothing short of the way he lived his life. In 1978, the Polynesian Voyaging Society was seeking volunteers for a thirty day, twenty five hundred mile (four thousand km) journey to re-enact the ancient route of the Polynesian migration between the Hawaiian and Tahitian Island chains. Eddie joined the voyage as a crew member. The double-hulled voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa left the Hawaiian islands on March 16, 1978. It developed a leak in one of its hulls and later capsized about twelve miles (nineteen km) south of the island of Molokaʻi. In an attempt to get help, Eddie paddled toward Lānaʻi on his surfboard.^[11] Although the rest of the crew were later rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Cape Corwin, Eddie's body was never found. He removed his life jacket since it was hindering his paddling of the surfboard. The ensuing search for him was the largest air–sea search in Hawaiian history.

The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational (colloquially, "The Eddie"^[1]) is now the premier big wave surfing event in the world, drawing the sports best from all corners of the world. So when you find yourself up against odds that seem impossible, think: Eddie would go, forget your fear and move forward. RIP Mr. Aikau.

If you’d like to support this project, Addicted to Joy, I’d ask you to make a donation to the American Red Cross for Southern California fire relief. If you like to help feed people, donate to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

Please share this if you feel so inclined.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoy the film and all of the full-length interviews. We do have some pretty cool things in the shop these days. Please share this Blog with a fellow surfer or with a friend who needs some Joy in their lives. I invite you to watch Addicted to Joy for free, Aloha.