50 Years of Hōkūle‘a
remains to this day. The following year, Black joined the crew for another milestone: the lon- gest leg of the Worldwide Voyage—a 4,200-nautical-mile crossing from Cape Town, South Africa, to Natal, Bra- zil. On this 16th leg, Hōkūle‘a not only touched the Atlantic for the first time, but also crossed it, marking a ground- breaking moment in its history. “You can be one minute, completely relaxed, and the next minute—every- thing changes in a fraction of a second with Mother Nature,” Black explains. “You're constantly reading the ocean and respecting Mother Nature, never taking anything for granted, and just watching after each other.” Like Black, Darryll Wong, an Outrig- ger member and former State of Ha- wai'i Adjutant General, shared a strong commitment to conservation and the protection of our planet, a theme that resonates with many Hōkūle‘a crew members. "Maybe others were looking for adventure, but I was looking to go back to my roots—to learn more about how people around the world took care of their land," Wong reflects. Growing up in Hawai‘i, Wong en- joyed the ocean through surfing and paddling, even crossing the Moloka‘i Channel at 19. Though his career took a turn when he became a pilot during the Vietnam War, leading to a highly decorated career with accolades like the Meritorious Service Medal, his commitment to safeguarding the envi- ronment remained steadfast. As a 1972 graduate of the University of Hawai‘i's Honors Program, he completed his senior honors thesis on adapting the Wischmeier soil erosion formula for Hawai‘i. This lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship eventually
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