Family members invite the public to remember the legendary waterman Clyde Aikau with a paddle out on Thursday, June 26, from 7:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. 

For “The Last Ride with Uncle Clyde Aikau,” everyone is welcome to gather in Waikiki at the hula mound by the Duke Kahanamoku Statue on Kalakaua Avenue near the intersection of Uluniu Avenue and to join the paddle out.
Organizers ask attendees to bring loose flowers. Anyone with lei must remove the string before the flowers are thrown into the ocean. 

Clyde Aikau died peacefully in his home in Waimanalo on May 3 at age 75. His family said he had "rallied with his family’s support through a series of heart issues and ultimately pancreatic cancer."

He was the younger brother of Eddie Aikau, a former Waimea Bay lifeguard who died at age 31 after the Hōkūleʻa capsized in 1978. Clyde Aikau was a legendary big-wave surfer in his own right and was also a lifeguard at Waimea Bay. Like his brother, he would later voyage on the Hōkūleʻa. The two brothers were very close. After his brother's death, Clyde helped organize the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Surf Contest, bringing home a first-place prize in 1986. He competed in his last Eddie in 2016, when he was 66 years old.

Michelle Broder Van Dyke covers the Hawaiian Islands for Spectrum News Hawaii. Email her at michelle.brodervandyke@charter.com.