Google Doodle celebrates legendary surfer Eddie Aikau’s 73rd Birthday, who rescuer of many lives

Eddie Aikau was a notorious Hawaiian surfer as renowned for his ability on huge waves as he was as a lifeguard who spared many lives from the perilous surf of Oahu’s north shore. The Google doodle honors Aikau’s contribution to surfing and Hawaiian culture on his birthday, May 4.

In any case, it’s for his last rescue endeavor that he’s beloved in the Hawaiian community. To respect the amazing surfer and lifeguard, Google devoted community Doodle to Aikau on what might have been his 73rd birthday.

For nearly insofar as Google has been near, it’s livened up its barebones search page with work of art that attracts regard for remarkable people, events, holidays and anniversaries. Google Doodles have celebrated, among numerous different things, Pac-Man’s anniversary, Copernicus’ birthday, Mother’s Day and the World Cup, just as helping everybody to remember lesser-known real-world heroes.

Aikau was one of those real-world heroes .

Born in Maui on May 4, 1946, Aikau was a relative of the esteemed cleric to King Kamehameha I. After his family moved to Oahu, he dropped out of school at 16 years old to take an occupation at the Dole pineapple cannery; his paycheck enabled him to purchase his first surfboard.

In 1967, Aikau was hired as the first lifeguard at Waimea Bay on Oahu’s north shore, where waves much of the time achieve 30 feet or higher. He’s credited with sparing in excess of 500 individuals amid his short vocation, never losing a spirit on his watch.

Aikau additionally made his mark as a major wave surfer, riding each significant swell to hit the north shore somewhere in the range of 1967 and 1978.

“Eddie was a pretty quiet guy, but when there was a challenge, or some risk to be taken, or a game to be played that everybody wanted to win, Eddie seemed to rise to the top,” his younger brother Clyde said in a profile published by surfboard maker Quiksilver. “He was high risk at an early age.”

In pro surfing, Aikau achieved a rank of 12th best on the planet and won a few surfing grants, including the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship.

In 1978, he was picked to join the team of a cultural expedition between Hawaii and Tahiti on the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokulea. Amid the 30-day, 2,500-mile voyage, the double-hulled canoe built up a release and overturned around 12 miles south of the island of Molokai.

With an end goal to get help for the group, Aikua paddled off on his surfboard toward the island of Lanai. The team was in the long run protected by the US Coast Guard, yet Aikau was gone forever.

“Eddie’s story is incredible; his legacy lives on as much through his surfing accomplishments as with his service as a lifeguard,” Jessica Yu, Google Doodle team lead, wrote in an email. “His dedication to the lives of fellow human beings was obvious. When I lived in Hawaii for a period of time, it was evident to me how important Eddie was to the local culture and community. With the Doodle, we wanted to honor Eddie and help even more people learn about his story and the values he stood for.”

In 1985, a major wave surfing competition called Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau, otherwise known as The Eddie, was set up at Waimea Bay to respect Aikau’s heritage. Before the competition can be held, the competition’s principles require open-ocean swells must be something like 20 feet high, which for the most part creates wave faces in the bay of around 30 feet.

Therefore, the competition has been held only nine times, most recently in 2016.