Edward Ryon Makuahanai Aikau was a Hawaiian lifeguard and surfer.
10 Facts About Eddie Aikau
2.
Eddie Aikau was a descendant of Hewahewa, the kahuna nui of King Kamehameha I and his successor Kamehameha II.
3.
Eddie Aikau first learned how to surf on the shorebreak of Kahului Harbor.
4.
In 1977 Eddie Aikau won the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship.
5.
On February 28,1978, TV producer John Orland was the last person Eddie Aikau rescued at Waimea Bay.
6.
Eddie Aikau removed his life jacket since it was hindering his paddling of the surfboard.
7.
The ensuing search for Eddie Aikau was the largest air-sea search in Hawaiian history.
8.
Eddie Aikau's story was humorously told by comedian Kurt Braunohler in a second-season episode of Drunk History that was dedicated to Hawaiian history, which aired on August 12,2014.
9.
Eddie Aikau's story was told by Karen Kilgariff on episode 160 of the podcast My Favorite Murder, which aired February 14,2019.
10.
In 2022, Eddie Aikau was featured in Naomi Hirahara's anthology We Are Here: 30 Inspiring Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Have Shaped the United States that was published by the Smithsonian Institution and Running Press Kids.