This winter break I went back to my homeland, Oahu, HI to visit my mom. While I was there the Eddie Aikau, a surf contest featuring some of the best trained and skilled surfers in the country, was taking place.

These surfers compete to honor Eddie Aikau, a true Hawaiian waterman. He was a lifeguard for the North Shore and rescued many people throughout his lifeguard career. He attempted to save 500 people in his career and not a single one of them died. He had a great care for the life of others and always put somebody else’s life before his.

Aikau’s family did not have a lot when he was growing up. They lived in a compound of 15 houses off the side of a dirt road on Maui. On the weekends, Aikau’s father would take the keiki (children) to Kahului Harbor to surf the shore break on redwood boards. Redwood boards are very thin and don’t have fins on them, so it’s like surfing on a piece of plywood.

At the age of 13, Eddie and his family moved to Oahu. Eddie was going to school but dropped out at the age of 16 so he could work at the Dole pineapple cannery. During that time he fell in love with the water and put that love to use. When he became a lifeguard in 1968, he was told to keep watch of the waters from Sunset beach to Haleiwa. That is about 8 miles of water, and there wasn’t a single person who died while he was on watch. Later that year he went on to be honored lifeguard of the year.

Eddie got involved in the renaissance of Hawaiian culture and became a crew member of the traditional Polynesian sailing canoe, the Hokulea, as a part of his commitment to keep his heritage alive. He and his crew were sailing rough seas and he gave his life to save every one of them. The Hokulea developed a leak in one of its hulls and later capsized. Eddie took his surfboard and attempted to paddle to a near by island, Lānaʻi. Unfortunately he got lost and was never found. But he was willing to risk his life to save the rest of his crew, and that was the type of person he was.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Eddie Aikau working as a lifeguard at Waimea Bay, North Shore

The Eddie competition has to have waves bigger than 20 feet for the event be official. To be able to compete in the Eddie Aikau event you have to be invited, it isn’t some event where you can just show up and surf some waves. These waves are very deadly and powerful and kill people all of the time.

Surfers from all around the world such as Italy, Canada, Australia, South Africa, all come to surf at this event. Surfers compete in two rounds of about four to five heats (rounds) each during the competition day, which is generally from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The surfer who is scored the most points for catching the biggest waves wins 50,000 dollars and 125,000 Hawaiian airlines miles. This years winner was Landon McNamara who is a song writer out of Hawaii.