Culture splash, with big waves

We learn in these pages that local Hawaiian surf hero Eddie Aikau was short and shy, was taught his trade by nonnative haoles, and that he had failed to win many surfing contests by 1978, when he was lost at sea at age 32 during an expedition aboard a replica Polynesian voyaging canoe.

But along the way we discover how Aikau reclaimed the pride native Hawaiians felt in their indigenous sport and in Duke Kahanamoku, who popularized surfing around the world before World War I. After the Duke, only haoles were in surfing’s limelight. Aikau sought to bring back the aloha, the spirit of welcoming disparate elements, “the power that unites heart with heart, soul with soul, life with life, culture with culture, race with race, nation with nation,” as a Hawaiian clergyman puts it.

Aikau’s skills as a waterman and his knack for surf diplomacy earned him a job as the first lifeguard at treacherous Waimea Bay, where a big-wave surf contest named for him is now held.

Coleman based his book on interviews with Aikau’s family and contemporaries. Although overlong at times, as sources have their say, the book s a compelling tale of one man’s quest to bring honor to himself and his people.

-- Emmett Berg