Contributed by: Stuart Coleman
As a preacher’s kid in Charleston, South Carolina, I was raised on the gospel of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the notion of servant leadership. But I grew up struggling with the belief that public service was more important than any personal passions.
Photo courtesy Stuart Coleman.
In my adolescent brain, serving others wasn’t nearly as fun as surfing the windswept waves at my local beach break, nor was it as appealing as writing sappy love poems about my latest crush.
In high school, I fell in love with both surfing and writing, and I have been in an on-again, off-again relationship with both ever since. Something in me was drawn to the mystery of both the ocean and creativity, muses whose fickle moods matched my own moodiness and restlessness. I loved riding waves and writing poems, but even my best rides faded into oblivion and most of my poems went unpublished and unrequited. I dreamed of composing a body of work that would touch people’s hearts and souls, but I lacked a clear purpose.
I continued surfing and writing over the years, going from one coast to another. The ocean’s siren’s song lured me across the world in search of bigger and better waves, eventually landing me in Hawaiʻi. But for some reason, I never wrote about surfing. Maybe it was because writing and surfing seemed so different to me: one so dependent on wind, tide, and weather; the other on thoughts, feelings, and inspiration.
It was only when I integrated these passions with a newfound purpose that I discovered my true calling as a SurfWriter. Learning about lifeguard and big-wave surfer Eddie Aikau, I began working on the biography of this legendary Hawaiian icon. Beyond the big waves and epic rescues, his life was a study in servant leadership, the aloha spirit, and the simple joy of serving others. Writing Eddie Would Go, I finally was able to blend my personal passions for words and waves into a higher purpose: sharing the compelling story of a man who embodied courage, sacrifice, and deep indigenous wisdom.
"Eddie Would Go" was originally published in 2002. A special edition was recently released to commemorate the book's 20th anniversary.
Stuart is the author of three books and the executive director and co-founder of WAI: Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting water quality and restoring healthy watersheds. His Instagram handle is @SurfWriter.
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