Voyaging members kicked off a statewide sail to Kauai this afternoon in honor of Mau Piailug, using his navigation techniques.
Piailug was Hokulea's first navigator on its maiden voyage to Tahiti in 1976. He passed away earlier this month at the age of 76.
One crew member who sailed with him on that first voyage says the native of Micronesia was important in bringing navigation to the Hawaiian islands.
"He showed us how to live," said John Kruse, a former crew member of Mau on the Hokulea. "He was our mother, our father, our sailing partner and you know to have a guy like that you could glimpsed into the past, that's how our ancestors were."
