Clyde Aikau, Hawai‘i's legendary big wave surfer and younger brother of Eddie Aikau, has died. He was 75.
He passed away Saturday at his Wamānalo home due to pancreatic cancer. He's survived by his wife, Eleni, and his son, Haʻa.
Clyde Aikau was born in 1949 in Hawai‘i and grew up on a Chinese cemetery. He was especially known for sailing on the Polynesian canoe Hōkūleʻa and saving many lives as a lifeguard at Waimea Bay.
Following his older brother's death, Clyde Aikau was committed to upholding Eddie Aikau's legacy in Hawaiian culture and surfing. Eddie Aikau was the first lifeguard on Oʻahu's North Shore.
He paddled off to get help when the Hōkūleʻa voyaging canoe capsized in 1978 off the coast of Lānaʻi — and was never seen again.
“When it's said and done, you know, all the money in the world won't help you or anything, but it's really what you do for your fellow man, is what Eddie was all about. And I thank, I thank the surfing world and Hawaiʻi for loving Eddie Aikau still after all these years,” Clyde Aikau said in 2019 on The Conversation.
Clyde Aikau won many surfing championships, including the Makaha International Surfing Championship in the 1960s. He also won the inaugural Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave Contest in 1986 in tribute to his brother. He last competed in the contest in 2016 at age 66.
"He was a fierce competitor who always carried himself with humility," Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangairdi said in a statement Monday. “He carried Eddie's legacy with pride, helping to preserve and share Hawaiʻi’s deep connection to the ocean, to each other, and to the culture that unites us."
His friends and family described him on social media as a true waterman.
