Sail Maui Crew Relief Fund

Aloha Kākou,

All donations from this campaign go directly to our staff affected by the fires. These funds do not go toward business use.

As many of you know, the island of Maui is experiencing one of the most tragic natural disasters in history. Our hometown, Lāhainā, has been completely wiped out, the homes and small businesses that made up this vibrant community are reduced to ashes. While all of our team has been accounted for, we still don’t know how many people have lost their lives. We hold these beautiful souls, and their loved ones, in our hearts and minds.

We, the captains and crew at Sail Maui, have been fortunate in that every one of our team is safe and accounted for. However, many have lost absolutely everything, many more are displaced, unable to return to homes that might still be standing, and most of us are out of work for the unforeseeable future.

This has not stopped a single one of us from jumping in on day one to lend a hand and make sure that we, the people of Maui, are taken care of. Some fled their homes with seconds to spare, with only the clothes on their backs, only to show up to volunteer the next morning. Someone else spent the afternoon the day the fire started, as smoke blackened the afternoon sky, aiding in rescuing boats blown out to sea and pulling people out of the water. The captains and crew of Sail Maui are truly exceptional people and it is such an honor to be a member of this remarkable team.

The majority of us have been part of an operation using boats out of Mā’alaea harbor, loading them with supplies, and taking them to the west side where road access was completely blocked for days and remains restricted at this time. We coordinated with people on shore who organized the collection and distribution of supplies.

This has been a massive effort and could not have been done without the companies that offered their vessels for transport and the captains and crews who made sure operations ran smoothly and safely. The Sail Maui crew has been so fortunate to work the crews of almost every single charter company on the island. The boating community is truly incredible.

We would especially like to give a huge mahalo to PacWhale Eco Adventures, who have spearheaded a large part of this project, utilized multiple vessels (despite losing one of their own in the fire), opened up a supply drop off site in Mā’alaea, and provided food to all the volunteers. The captains and crew of Quicksilver and Calypso also led one of the larger runs. We have also worked on and alongside crews of Gemini, Terralani, Blue Water, Trilogy, Ultimate, Maui Adventure Cruises, Atlantis, UFO, private zodiacs, jet skis, and countless more that we apologize for not mentioning by name. Thank you all for bringing us along and letting us be part of one big ‘ohana. ♥️

To those of you who have had the pleasure of sailing with us at some point, we appreciate the offers of support and inquiries of how to help. A GoFundMe has been set up for our crew who lost their homes. Many of us immediately set up our personal Venmo accounts and GoFundMe to fund supplies and support our friends who lost everything. It’s going to take a massive effort and a long time to rebuild and begin to heal and everything helps. One thing we’ve learned this week is that the people of Maui are resilient and we’ve got each other’s backs. Maui Strong!

Many Mahalos and much love to our ‘ohana around the world.

Love,

The Captains and Crew of Sail Maui