Eddie Aikau (1946 – 1978) & Surfing
Iconic big-wave rider from Honolulu, Hawaii; winner of the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Antique surf contest, merely 3 months forward of death in a boating twist of fate; thought to be the most efficient Waimea surfer of his time, and namesake to the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave surf contest. “He had the ultimate Hawaiian style,” Authentic Corral Seashore surf file next-generation big-wave charger Darrick Doerner discussed in 1990. “Take off and drop in, large bottom turn, disappear proper right into a mountain of whitewater, pop out, throw his hair once more; that was once Eddie. Bully style.”
Aikau was once born (1946) and raised in Kahului, Maui, the son of a truck driver, began surfing at age 11, and moved in conjunction with his family to Honolulu in 1959. At 16, Aikau dropped out of high school to art work full-time at a Dole Pineapple cannery. Six years years later he began operating as a North Shore lifeguard, and in 1971 he was once stationed at Waimea Bay, a big-wave damage he’d been surfing for years. His debut at Waimea in late 1966 was once astounding: “he rode large waves for over six hours and now not the use of a damage,” Surfing magazine reported, “and when he in spite of everything left the water, he was once judged by means of most to have been one of the most best possible riders of the day.” Ten months later, on the biggest ridable day of the decade, Aikau simply broke transparent of the pack and was once untouchable. The have an effect on he left was once strengthened by means of his dark and rugged good turns out, his fire-engine red board, and his white surf trunks accented with a single red horizontal stripe.
Aikau was once a gradual performer during the early years {{of professional}} surfing in Hawaii. He was once a six-time finalist inside the Duke contest between 1966 and 1974; inside the Smirnoff he situated fifth in 1971, fourth in 1972, and third in 1976; he moreover finished third inside the 1976 Lancers Global Cup, and was once invited to the 1971 and 1973 Expression Categories. When Aikau gained the 1977 Duke, he beat longer term international champions Mark Richards and Wayne Bartholomew, along with international tour standouts Dane Kealoha, Bobby Owens, and Rory Russell. He finished the season world-rated #12. Younger brother Clyde Aikau moreover made a name for himself inside the large Hawaiian surf.
Aikau’s distinctive bowlegged stance was once broadly imitated inside the late ’60s and early ’70s, and images of him at Waimea were revealed in Lifestyles magazine in 1966, 3 years forward of Monetary establishment of great example can be found at Surfing LA The united states used an Aikau shot in a countrywide billboard ad advertising marketing campaign. A career low stage were given right here in 1972, when he visited Durban, South Africa, for a qualified contest, and was once grew to turn into transparent of his resort for being dark-skinned. It was once further required that he get a singular permit to surf Durban’s whites-only beaches.
In 1978, Aikau gained a berth on the Hokule’a, a reproduction of the double-hulled canoe used by ancient Polynesians to sail between Hawaii and Tahiti. On March 16, Aikau and 15 other Hokule’a bunch individuals left Honolulu for a 2,400-mile voyage that can reenact the midocean crossing; 5 hours into the commute, the starboard hull sprung a leak and the boat capsized, leaving the crowd putting immediately to the port hull. At 10:30 the following morning, Aikau took a life vest, rain slicker, knife, and strobe delicate, and set out on a 10-foot surfboard for the island of Lanai, 12 miles to the east. Later that day the Hokule’a bunch was once picked up by means of a rescue crew. Coast Guard rescuers regarded for every week, on the other hand Aikau’s body wasn’t found out.
The governor of Hawaii declared April 1 to be Eddie Aikau Day (the date was once later changed to March 17), and in 1980 a commemorative plaque was once installed in Aikau’s honor at Waimea, not some distance from the lifeguard tower where he worked. A contest in Aikau’s determine was once held at Sunset Beach in 1984; it later complicated into the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave contest, held at Waimea. The 1986 model of the contest was once gained by means of Clyde Aikau, who used a 10-year-old board that had belonged to his brother.
Aikau gave the impression in a handful of surf movement footage, in conjunction with Golden Breed (1968), Waves of Change (1970), and Fluid Force (1974). In 2000 he was once inducted into the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Standing; a biography, Eddie Would Go: The Story of Eddie Aikau, Hawaiian Hero, written by means of Stuart Coleman, was once revealed in 2002. Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau, a documentary made by means of The usage of Giants director Stacy Peralta, longtime surf journalist Sam George, and producer Paul Taublieb, debuted in 2013.
The Eddie Aikau Foundation, a nonprofit team dedicated to protective Hawaiian customized and custom, was once primarily based in 2000.
Aikau was once married once and had no youngsters.
History of Surfing
·Aikau, Clyde
·Aikau, Eddie
·Bartholomew, Wayne
·big-wave surfing
·death and skimming
·Doerner, Darrick
·Duke Kahanamoku Invitational
·Durban
·Espere, Tiger
·Expression Session
·Kaio, Kealoha
·Kealoha, Dane
·Keating, Dick
·lifeguarding and skimming
·Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau, The
·race, racism and skimming
·Richards, Mark
·The usage of Giants
·Smirnoff Skilled-Am
·Waimea Bay
·
History of Surfing
·Eddie Aikau’s State of Grace
·Gods of Thunder
·Surfers vs Apartheid
Interviews
·Clyde Aikau
·Darrick Doerner
·Eddie Aikau
Blog
·I SEE YOUR POWER LIST AND RAISE TWO MORE! 15 GREAT POWER SURFERS
·Nineteen Sixties DUKE INVITATIONAL POWER RANKINGS: DOYLE #1!
·1970s DUKE CLASSIC POWER RANKINGS: HAKMAN #1!
·SUNDAY JOINT, 1-21-2019
Motion pictures
·1966 Duke Invitational, Sunset Beach (whole duration)
·1986 Quiksilver / Eddie Aikau Massive Wave Invitational (long style)
·1990 Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau (long style)
·Clyde Aikau
·Eddie Aikau
·Waimea ’67, from “Sunshine Sea”
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Contests
·1969 Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Antique
·1973 Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Antique
·1977 Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Antique
·1990 Quiksilver, in Memory of Eddie Aikau