"The surfing world has lost a legend Sunday night, Braddah Clyde Aikau…"
The great Clyde Aikau, little brother of the legendary North Shore lifeguard Eddie Aikau, has died aged seventy-five.
The last time Clyde Aikau was on these pages was two years back when he was rushed to a Las Vegas hospital for emergency heart surgery for an aortic aneurysm after he collapsed leaving a restaurant. A subsequent crowdfunding account was led by Kelly Slater who deposited one thousand dollars to help the Hawaiian legend.
Clyde died Saturday night at his Waimanalo home from pancreatic cancer.
Johnny Boy Gomes, one of the best in the Pipe-chasing game in the nineties, posted on IG.
I’m writing this with a heavy heart The surfing world has lost a legend Sunday night, Braddah Clyde Aikau My Thoughts, Prayers & Aloha, Are With The Aikau O’hana
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Older surfers will remember Clyde’s classic win on a wave-score countback with Mark Foo at the 1986 Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay, the famous big wave event named after his brother who went missing while trying to save his crew-mates on the ill-fated Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule’a.
The crew had embarked on a voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti to recreate the ancient Polynesian migration routes. The Hokule’a encountered rough weather and capsized in the Molokai Channel. Eddie volunteered to paddle on his surfboard toward the island of Lanai to seek help for the crew and was never seen again.
Clyde Aikau would later claim it was the spirit of his brother
in the form of two turtles who guided him to the win,
“So I looked at these two turtles, and I followed them,” he said in
an interview with PBS in 2014.
“And this is where everybody sits down, all five guys, and I would follow the turtles past them, and go deeper than all of them, about a hundred feet out. And as soon as I got to that point, the biggest wave of the day would just pull right in, and I’d jump right on it. And just rip it up, come all the way in, and I’d paddle out, and the turtles would be there again. And I’d follow these turtles.”
In 1990, Clyde Aikau placed fifth in the Eddie, tenth in 2001 and eighth in 2002.
Maybe you remember the ruckus over the contest which is now called The Eddie Aikau Invitational after the Aikau family rejected offers from Quiksilver when their ten-year agreement expired in 2016.
Thing was, Quiksilver owned the permits for the 2015-16 contest and canvassed the idea of calling it a different name to circumvent the need to involve the famous Hawaiian family. Quiksilver played around with The Quiksilver: In Memory of Jose Angel, The Quiksilver: In Memory of Todd Chesser, The Quiksilver: In Memory of Brock Little.
Anyway, the contest went ahead in 2016 as The Quiksilver: In Memory Of Eddie Aikau and the agreement was terminated shortly after.
Fittingly, it was the last time Clyde, then aged sixty-six, would surf in the event, finishing twentieth out of twenty-nine.
The family released a statement following his death a short time ago.
LEGENDARY HAWAIIAN WATERMAN CLYDE AIKAU PASSES AWAY AT 75
HONOLULU (Monday, May 5, 2025) — Legendary Hawaiian waterman Clyde Aikau, the younger brother of world renowned waterman Eddie Aikau, passed away peacefully at his Waimanalo home on Saturday evening. Clyde, 75, is survived by his wife Eleni Aikau, son Ha’a Aikau, sister Myra Aikau, nieces and nephews.
Clyde was the youngest of six children born to Solomon ‘Pops’ and Henrietta Aikau in Kahului, Maui, on October 24, 1949. His siblings, from oldest to youngest were Fred, Myra, Eddie, Gerald and Solomon III. The family moved from Maui to O’ahu in 1959.
Clyde and Eddie were the closest of brothers, sharing a passion and commitment to family, Hawaiian culture, and the ocean. They both served as North Shore lifeguards; voyaged on Hokule’a (separate voyages); rode giant winter waves at Waimea Bay; and were famous for their impromptu slack key guitar sessions that they shared with family and friends around the Islands and the world.
After the loss of his brother Eddie in 1978, Clyde followed through with his lifetime commitment to perpetuate Eddie’s legacy and contributions to big wave riding and Hawaiian culture.
In 1986, Clyde won the inaugural Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay, in tribute to his brother. He continued to surf in the event every year it was held up to the age of 66 (2016), forging an unrivaled big wave legacy all his own.
During his storied life, Clyde ran a Waikiki Beachboy service for many years. He also served as a liaison between the Department of Education and houseless families and children in Hawaii to ensure they had access to school supplies, transportation, and ultimately education. Clyde was a lifelong education advocate, having attended the University of Hawaii where he pursued a degree in Sociology.
In recent years, Clyde rallied with his family’s support through a series of heart issues and ultimately pancreatic cancer. While that road was a difficult one, he never allowed it to get in the way of his eternal optimism and zest for life. He continued on with his family duties, supported his wife’s dog boarding and training business, and ensured the success of his brother’s event.
The Aikau family wishes to express its deepest gratitude to the community of Hawai’i, and their extended friends and family abroad, for the heartfelt wishes they have received at this time.
Details regarding upcoming services for Clyde will be announced when confirmed.
Aloha.
