Or, maybe it's just another tale of an ordinary man doing a not-so-ordinary thing.
Not many people outside of Hawai'i know the story of Eddie Aikau. My brother emailed me this snippet this morning with the title "James Would Go." I know that James Kim's story has affected so many of you and I appreciate you sharing your feelings with me. I still can't quite figure out exactly why this story touched me so deeply especially when people go missing everyday and heroic acts are performed everyday.
This is one of those heroic acts.
Relying on knowledge, craft and experience, Polynesians navigated vast stretches of the Pacific ocean on their migrations to new islands. Navigators used precise observations of the stars, sun, moon, winds, ocean swells and currents, and flights of birds; charting their progress by memory.
Since 1976, the Hokule'a has sailed over 24,000 nautical miles, proving the validity of traditional building and navigation techniques and confirming that the ancient Polynesian chants and legends recalling adventures of brave voyagers and successes of planned migrations are true.
Eddie Aikau had already done all he could as a waterman, voyaging as a crew member on the Hokule'a was a way for him to grow; learn more about his people—and himself. (The Holule'a and its crew) launched from the Magic Island dock at 7:00 PM the evening of March 16, 1978—it was an exciting and emotional departure.
Several hours out, northwest of Lanai in one of the most treacherous stretches of ocean on earth—the Kaiwi Channel—they were hit by heavy weather. Taking on water and pounded by twelve foot swells and lashed by gale force winds, they drifted out of shipping and air lanes—and away from rescue.
With crew members clinging to the capsized craft and in doubt as to rescue, Eddie decided to paddle his surfboard for Lanai, some twelve miles to the east. For the last time, Eddie would go.*
While the crew was found the next day, Eddie never was. The loss was deep to the Hawaiian people. They mounted the largest air-sea rescue search in the history of the Hawaiian Islands; but no trace was ever found.
Eddie Aikau—Hawaiian—his body had followed where his spirit had.
*In the 1980's, bumper stickers and T-shirts with the phrase "Eddie Would Go" spread around the Hawaiian Islands to the rest of the world. According to maritime historian Mac Simpson, "Aikau was a legend on the North Shore, pulling people out of waves that no one else would dare to. That's where the saying came from—Eddie would go, when no else would or could. Only Eddie dared.
