Leon 'Fafa' Toofa, 67, master canoe builder

Associated Press

WAILUKU, Maui — Leon "Fafa" Toofa, a master canoe builder from Tahiti, died over the weekend during a fishing trip off Maui. He was 67.

Maui police Lt. Michael Kahoohanohano said Toofa had gone to the shoreline with at least one other person when a wave swept him into the ocean about 5 p.m. Saturday.

His companion was unable to save him and called police for help, Kahoohanohano said.

Toofa was found in the water near Maka'alae in Hana and was pronounced dead at 11 p.m. Saturday at Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kahoohanohano said.

Toofa, who was from Pueu island, helped revive the tradition of koa canoe building on Maui beginning in the late 1990s.

Strolling on the beach, he had walked up to the Kihei Canoe Club and offered his services.

Toofa "walked to our club, and said, 'I noticed you don't have a koa canoe, and I want to build one for your folks,' " said Alika Atay, president of the club. The club went on to harvest a koa log for the first time in more than 77 years, he said.

"It was an awesome experience for us, pulling the log out with our own hands, going through the ritual, having these men in the mountain, chanting in the forest," Atay said.

Toofa also helped build canoes for two other canoe clubs on Maui.

"It's a big loss to Hawai'i because he was the first guy that went on the mountain. ... He made them go up there, cut the tree, drag it out of the mountain. This was the guy that made it happen again," said Hana Canoe Club director Robert Malaiakini.