Eddie Aikau and The Eddie: How to Watch at Waimea Bay

Eddie Aikau was born on Maui on May 4, 1946, the third of six children, and his family moved to Oahu in 1959 (Polynesian Voyaging Society). In 1968 he became the first lifeguard the City and County of Honolulu hired to work the North Shore. The City’s Ocean Safety history page says he covered every beach and surf break between Haleʻiwa and Sunset in a converted city hearse with a rescue board on its roof, and that he based himself at Waimea Bay every day (Honolulu Ocean Safety).

The Eddie Aikau Foundation says he “saved countless swimmers from the rough waters and big surf” (Eddie Aikau Foundation). The voyaging society’s archive says not one life was lost at Waimea Bay while he was the lifeguard there and that he won the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship; a 1998 Star-Bulletin article it hosts adds that his fellow lifeguards voted him Lifeguard of the Year in 1971. His family started the Eddie Aikau Foundation in May 2000 to share his story and Hawaiian culture (Foundation history).

In March 1978 Eddie, then 31, was one of 16 crew aboard Hōkūleʻa, the Polynesian Voyaging Society’s double-hulled voyaging canoe, bound for Tahiti. It left Ala Wai Harbor at 6:30 p.m. on March 16 and, about five hours later, heavily loaded in 6 to 8 foot seas, capsized between Oahu and Molokaʻi. The crew clung to the hulls through the night.

The next morning Eddie asked twice for permission to paddle a surfboard for help and was refused. At 10:30 a.m. on March 17 he was given permission, with directions to head for Molokaʻi and use the current to reach Lānaʻi. The crew joined hands in prayer as he left. He was never seen again. That night a Hawaiian Airlines pilot spotted the canoe’s flares, and the Coast Guard cutter Cape Corwin reached the canoe at 1:20 a.m. on March 18. The rest of the crew survived (Polynesian Voyaging Society).

Nainoa Thompson, a navigator aboard, later said: “He was a lifeguard … he guarded life, and he lost his own, trying to guard ours.”

The phrase is older than the voyage. Maritime historian Mac Simpson told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1998 that it came from Eddie pulling people out of surf no one else would enter: “Eddie would go, when no else would or could” (the article is hosted in the voyaging society’s archive). The same article dates the bumper stickers to the 1980s.

Today the words mean more than courage in big surf. Landon McNamara, who won the 2024 contest, told the Star-Advertiser: “It’s that warrior mentality, putting yourself in harm’s way for the right cause.” The Foundation’s motto is “There Is Good to Be Done” (Foundation).

The contest has run in Eddie’s name since 1985 and, in the organizers’ words, “will run if wave face heights consistently reach 40-feet during the holding period” (The Eddie). Hawaiian-scale numbers run about half the face height: the Star-Advertiser put the bar at 20 to 25 feet Hawaiian scale, roughly 40 to 50 feet on the face, for an entire day (Star-Advertiser, Dec 2025). Lifeguard Joey Cadiz said it “has to be a big enough swell that lasts the entire day.” The saying at the bay is “the bay calls the day,” which Clyde Aikau, Eddie’s brother, used when he spoke for the contest (Hawaii News Now, 2022).

It has run 11 times in 41 years, most recently on January 22, 2023, won by City lifeguard Luke Shepardson, who took two hours of vacation from his Tower 29 shift to surf two heats (Honolulu Ocean Safety), and on December 22, 2024, won by Landon McNamara (State Legislature, HR216). The 2025-26 window closed on March 6, 2026 without the swell (Hawaii News Now).

Last season the field was 32 invitees, in heats of seven men and one woman, each heat an hour (Star-Advertiser). Rip Curl has been the title sponsor since 2024. The 2026-27 field, announced on October 29, is 32 invitees, 25 of them from Hawaiʻi, plus 25 alternates, 20 men and five women (Hawaii News Now). The 2026-27 heat format has not been published.

Rip Curl’s Eddie page lists the 2026-27 event window as December 6, 2026 to March 4, 2027, with the opening ceremony at Waimea Bay on December 3, 2026, a Thursday (Rip Curl). Hawaii News Now reported the same window and ceremony date when the invitees were announced on October 29 (Hawaii News Now). As of November 8, the contest’s own site (theeddieaikau.com) shows a 2026-2027 banner and “updates coming soon,” so check it and Rip Curl’s page before you plan around the ceremony. Windows shift from year to year.

The ceremony is a blessing, not a contest. The organizers’ 2025 release describes a land blessing, hula, competitor introductions and an ocean blessing and paddle-out, running from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. that year (organizer release, Dec 4, 2025). Hundreds gathered at Waimea Bay, and the ceremony honored Clyde Aikau, who died in May 2025 (Star-Advertiser). A 2026 time has not been published.

No 2026-27 spectator plan exists yet. The City and State publish theirs only days ahead, because organizers announce the go late: in December 2024 the green light came on Friday, December 20 for Sunday, December 22, with the final call after daybreak (Hawaii News Now). Here is what was published for that event, the best guide to what to expect. Our Waimea Bay Beach Park guide covers an ordinary day at the bay.

Tens of thousands of people were expected that day, and the City said the highway restrictions exist so emergency vehicles can get through. Stay back from the water’s edge in big surf; Cadiz put the lifeguards’ message simply: “We just hope people listen to the lifeguards’ warnings.” See watching big North Shore surf and ocean safety on Oahu for the shore rules. The contest’s site hosts the 2024 event replay if you would rather watch from home, and renting a car on Oahu covers the drive.

Most winters it does not, so plan the North Shore trip around more than one day. North Shore weather by month covers when the winter swells come, and the beaches by season guide sorts the beaches for swimming from the ones for watching. Sunset Beach and the Banzai Pipeline are the other big-wave stops on the same highway, and Haleʻiwa town is where most people eat. The whole coast is in our North Shore guide.