Eddie Aikau

Eddie Aikau was a Hawaiian lifeguard and big-wave surfer, born in Kahului, Maui, on 4 May 1946 and lost at sea on 17 March 1978. In 1968 he became the first lifeguard hired by the City and County of Honolulu for the North Shore and was the first lifeguard at Waimea Bay on Oahu, where he saved more than 500 people and no life was lost on his watch. He was named Lifeguard of the Year in 1971 and won the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship. In 1978 he joined the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule'a as a crew member; when it capsized south of Molokai he paddled toward Lanai on his surfboard to seek help and was never found. The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, first held in 1985, is named in his honor.