Forgive me this indulgence for today... The story below was one that our cousin, Danny Epp, was very interested in. He identified himself with Eddie, and many of his friends felt he possessed many of the same qualities. Danny died in a snowboarding accident earlier this year.
At my grandfather's funeral, this story was brought up as well, as a description of how my grandfather lived.
It's a little deep for a Friday musing, but when I got this last night I thought it seemed appropriate for a blog about living life to its fullest...
EDDIE WOULD GO
By Corky Carroll
There is a saying in big wave surfing circles. "Eddie would go." It is used mostly when somebody chickens out of a big wave take off at the last minute, or as a gage to determine if a wave, or a surfing session, is rideable or not. The Eddie that is being referred to in this saying is the late Hawaiian big wave surfer and waterman Eddie Aikau.
Eddie Aikau was one of the premier big wave surfers on the twentieth century. During my prime, which was the sixties and early seventies, Eddie was the top dog at Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu. I can remember being out there with him numerous times when it was so big that I was scared out of my mind. But he never was, and somehow that sort of had a calming effect. It was like "Geeze, Eddie's just having a good ol' time out here so I guess it must not be all that dangerous." But it was and we all knew it.
Eddie was just confident in his big wave ability and his skills as a waterman and swimmer and that put him in a state of mind that was much better suited to taking off on hair raising monster waves than most of the rest of us. There were guys that had the water skills but lacked the surfing ability. They would take off but they would usually eat it or just stink bug stance it into the channel. Then there were the great surfers who lacked the swimming and waterman skills that you really need to ride extra large surf. They usually had the sense to not go out there in the first place. Eddie had what it took in both areas and that is why he was in his own league pretty much of his own. Guys came later that had it all, but it was a rare thing in the early big wave riding days. George Downing had it too. I was sort of in that weird little gray area where I had the wave riding ability and the desire but was not all that confident in my breath holding skills. I could usually stay down about five seconds and that was in a warm bathtub. So I rode big waves but I was scared a lot of the time and tried not to take too many really crazy chances.
I liked surfing with Eddie because for one thing he was a lot of fun to surf with. He had a happy attitude and a good sense of humor. It's always good to be able to make a joke when a killer close out set is just getting ready to smoke you. Might as well die laughing.
Eddie continued to ride big surf and was a lifeguard at Waimea Bay and on the North Shore, probably the most dangerous lifeguarding job on the planet. He was a great paddler and sailor. He also had the support of one of the greatest Hawaiian families that I ever had the privilege to know. His father, Sol Aikau, has been a tireless volunteer at Hawaiian surfing meets for decades and is the nicest dude there is. His younger brother Clyde is also a great surfer and runs a surfing school on the beach at Waikiki.
In March of 1978 Eddie was a crew member of the ill-fated voyage of the Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hokule'a. During a stormy night at sea the canoe was swamped and the lives of its crew were in danger. Eddie, being the fearless waterman that he was, volunteered to paddle the surfboard that he had brought along for help. It was twenty or so miles across gale force rages seas to the tiny island of Lanai to try and get help. It seemed that Eddie was the only hope to save the crew. At 10:30 A.M. on March 17, 1978 Eddie set out. A few hours later a plane spotted the overturned canoe and the crew was rescued. They never found Eddie. The surfing world as a whole cried. I know I did. What a sad day for every one that knew him and for Hawaii. Eddie was as Hawaiian as you could be, through and through.
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