They came to remember and celebrate a man who symbolized the strength and spirit of the Native Hawaiian culture, a man known the world over for leading the historic maiden voyage of the Hokule'a to Tahiti in 1976.

With the ocean where he spent much of his life as a backdrop, dozens of family and friends gathered yesterday in Waikiki to pay tribute to Elia Kawika David Ku'ualoha Kapahulehua, who died May 17 at age 76.

Those who spoke during the service at the Waikiki Elks Lodge recalled a man of compassion and humility, a man of immense knowledge of and respect for his heritage, a man who always left the front door at his Hawai'i Kai home open to welcome visitors, just as he opened his heart to anyone wanting to know more about the language, history and culture of his homeland.

"How do you measure a single man's contribution to Hawaiian culture and, in my humble opinion, to making Hawai'i a better place?" asked Nainoa Thompson, a member of the 1976 Hokule'a crew.

Many of those who attended yesterday's service had personal "Uncle Kawika" stories. They recounted how their encounters with Kapahulehua left lasting impressions on them, in much the same way his steady guiding hand overseeing the double-hulled Hokule'a 31 years ago on its successful voyage, overcoming stormy seas and a mini-mutiny, left a legacy that many consider a defining moment in the resurgence of the Native Hawaiian culture.

The 1976 voyage, in which the crew, like ancient mariners, used only sky and sea to navigate, was believed to be the first canoe passage from Hawai'i to Tahiti in about 600 years. Voyages to other places have occurred since, including a current one to Japan, and Kapahulehua is credited with paving the way for those efforts.

Kapahulehua, a pure Hawaiian and native speaker from Ni'ihau, was a licensed sea captain and master mariner. But he was known for being much more than simply a man of the sea.

Nani Delos Santos, a part-Hawaiian graduate student studying clinical psychology at Argosy University, said she first met Kapahulehua while she was an undergraduate at the University of Hawai'i in 2002. He was a kupuna helping with her Hawaiian language class, and Delos Santos met with him weekly as part of a course requirement.

She was so impressed with his willingness to teach, and his knowledge of Hawaiian culture, that she continued meeting with him even after she left UH, often going to his Hawai'i Kai home just to talk story. In the past two years, as her schoolwork took up more time, she mostly communicated with him via phone calls and letters.

"Somebody with the wealth of knowledge he had, I could see somebody like that being very arrogant. But he wasn't," Delos Santos said in an interview, tears streaming down her checks. "He was a very sharing, generous person. He kind of saw it more as a gift, sharing his knowledge with everyone he could."

In one of the more poignant moments at yesterday's ceremony, Kapahulehua's Hawai'i Kai neighbor, Kaylin Noda, 11, performed a hula in his honor, and she told the audience that her "uncle" will be remembered for leaving a legacy of love: "He bought my Girl Scout cookies every year, and I don't even think he liked them that much."

Kapahulehua was so admired and respected that when a group of friends decided to remodel his home a few years ago, seeking donations from the community, people didn't hesitate to give money, materials and their time, according to Cathy Ostrem, who helped with the remodeling and attended yesterday's memorial.

"There was just this outpouring of support," Ostrem said. "He was our link to the past."

Kapahulehua's death was noted nationally and internationally — a feature-length obituary ran in The New York Times — and even people in Japan, where the Hokule'a is now, paid tribute to him when word of his death reached there.

Despite Kapahulehua's death, Hokule'a crew members, past and present, plan to take one last sail with him aboard the Hokule'a.

After the canoe returns from Japan at the beginning of July, Thompson said, they will take his ashes from O'ahu to Ni'ihau, then back to O'ahu, where his family plans to scatter his ashes off Waikiki. Thompson is hoping the 18 crew members from the original voyage who are still living and still in Hawai'i will participate.

"It will be a great voyage to go with him in spirit to his ancestral homeland," Thompson said. "I think it's the right thing to do to honor him."

Kapahulehua is survived by his son, Danny Kapahulehua of O'ahu; his brother, Frank Santos of Kaua'i; his sister, Doreen Nunies of Las Vegas; and nieces and nephews.

Reach Rob Perez at rperez@honoluluadvertiser.com.