50 Years of Hōkūle‘a
a round of kava. But it was a late-night wake-up call that left a lasting impres- sion when he was roused to witness a massive school of cuttlefish illuminat- ing the water in dazzling, shifting hues. “It looked like the Saturday Night Fever dance floor,” he recalls. Black was aboard for a major first— Leg 11 of the Mālama Honua World- wide Voyage in April 2015, in which Hōkūle‘a ventured beyond the Pacific Ocean for the first time, sailing from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to Australia across the Tasman Sea. The crew knew they were in for a challenge. “We had to bite through a pretty good sized storm,” Black recalls, as they faced two days of relentless 15 to 20-foot seas. “It was pretty much all hands on deck for those days and nights.” When the storm finally broke and the winds calmed, Black remembers Blan- kenfeld throwing out a lure. As it slow- ly sank, the crew realized the ocean’s stillness had arrived on Eddie Aikau’s birthday. Aikau, a legendary Hawaiian lifeguard and surfer, is known for his bravery and sacrifice during Hōkūle‘a's 1978 voyage to Tahiti, where he was lost at sea while attempting to paddle for help. “We all thanked Eddie for his gift to us.” As they dried out their clothes and sleeping bags, Blankenfeld suddenly pulled in a massive 50-plus-pound big- eye ‘ahi. “We ate very well and restored our strength—all of us felt very confi- dent that we had Eddie with us, to guide us and look after us.” To honor Aikau, a plaque bearing his name is mounted aboard Hōkūle‘a, a lasting tribute that
“When [Nainoa] talks about voyaging, it’s not only about voyaging on the ocean, it’s about your voyage in life. He always talks about how you have to know where you came from to know where you're going.”
- Darryll Wong
MAY / JUNE 2025 | AMA 15
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