Aloha! My name is Kim Ann Curtin and I can’t wait to share with you Uncle Manny Veincent’s memoir, Born of Two Oceans.

Uncle Manny at 94 years young is a legend on the big island. He is also one of the four elders featured in Kolby Akamu Moser “Hometown Legends” documentary.
For over five decades, Manny coached the Kawaʻihae Canoe Club and while he truly is the embodiment of a waterman his life journey surpasses that moniker as he has also been a marine, rancher, rescue & fireman and more.
His varied careers and accomplishments encompass so much of the oral history and old-world traditions of Hawaiʻi. He is truly a living legend and his stories and knowledge of Hawaiʻi island (especially Mauna Kea and our other mountains) is extraordinary. He knows and remembers so much detail about obscure and rarely visited locations on island that it boggles my mind. I repeatedly refer to him as the “Ernest Hemingway” of Hawaiʻi.

As a former Marine that served in the Korean War, Uncle Manny came home and became part of the Nene restoration project on the slopes of Mauna Kea, and while assisting with shark research actually rode on the back of a shark (!). He has deep knowledge of canoe carving and building - one of his many Koa Canoe masterpieces sits in the hallway of The Fairmont Orchid. His knowledge of traditional fishing and hunting and of course, paddling has inspired and encouraged countless men, women & children for decades.

Five years ago Uncle Manny asked me to help him with his memoir because he knew I had self-published my own book in 2015 called Transforming Wall Street: A Conscious Path for a New Future.

Since I attribute my moving to Hawaii from New York City ten years ago in large part to my experience paddling for Uncle Manny at Kawaʻihae Canoe Club I felt it my Kuleana to assist him with the project.

Born of Two Oceans is the vibrant, engaging, and informative memoir of Manuel “Manny” Veincent, Jr., who in his ninth decade is still going strong. Raised in Hawaii during the Great Depression and World War II, Manny embodies the traditional Hawaiian values and lifestyle he grew up with. In this book, he shares colorful stories of his grandparents, family, and friends, and his own countless adventures in the Hawaiian Islands.

After serving as a Marine in the Korean War, Manny returned to Hawaii to work for the airlines, fire and rescue, the State of Hawaii in its Nene Restoration Project, and as a rancher. But he is best known as a founder of the Kawaʻihae Canoe Club. He has served as the club’s president for more than forty years. He is also a paddling coach and has led the club to victory several times in various races.

Manny’s life has seldom been dull. When he isn’t being bucked off a horse he’s trying to break, he’s teaching people how to paddle in sync. He’s had numerous encounters with sharks and lived to tell the tale. He’s branded cattle, helped rescue people in the mountains, had a long and happy marriage, raised a daughter, and watched Hawaii change over nine decades. It is hard to imagine a more complete life, so filled with adventure, friendship, humor, and a giving spirit.
In Born of Two Oceans, you’ll read stories about his life, his family and his ancestors and how they came to live here. (His great-grandfather left the Madeira Islands on a whaling ship and jumped ship at Kalapana, Hawaii and swam in to shore!) 

Interspersed between the chapters written in Manny’s own voice are testaments from friends, both old and new, who have been inspired and transformed through their relationships with him.

In these pages, experience Hawaii like you have never known it. Discover a true pioneer spirit and feel the magic of aloha embodying every page. In Manny Veincent, you will discover a true original, and you will come away feeling blessed for the time you have spent with him.