Braintree native sails an American dream

In 1977, a Braintree High School student, Dana Wirkala, made headlines when he built himself a gaff-rigged cat boat to sail New England waters.

Today, instead of his 22-foot sailboat, Wirkala has an 850-foot, 2,000-passenger ship, the Pride of Aloha, which is making maritime history by being the first modern cruise ship in half a century to fly the United States flag and have an all-American crew. Wirkala is captain of the NCL America vessel, which makes seven-day, round-trip cruises from Honolulu, visiting the four main islands of Hawaii.

This month, Wirkala's wife, Susan (White), whom he met when both were students at Braintree High School, and their two daughters, Krysta, 14, and Erika, 12, are spending three weeks with him on the ship. (Top officers may invite their immediate families on the vessel for a vacation.) And next month, the Wirkalas, who have been living in Houston for the past seven years, will move back to their home in Duxbury, which has been rented while they've been away.

''Duxbury will be our permanent home," Dana Wirkala said in an interview aboard his ship, which was making its inaugural cruise starting July 4, in keeping with the all-American theme. ''My wife likes the Boston area better than Texas, and I like the idea that in Duxbury we're five minutes from the beach. Also, the schools are better in Duxbury."

And since the Wirkalas are a close-knit family, it's a major advantage, too, that the captain's mother, Barbara Wirkala, still lives in Braintree.

''I'm definitely glad they're coming back," Barbara Wirkala said in a recent phone interview. ''I've been waiting a long time."

She sailed with her son several times when, in his previous job, he was captain for four years of the American Classic Voyages' ship Independence, which also cruised the Hawaiian islands. Built in Quincy in 1951, the Independence is not in service at this time.

Asked why he recommends sailing in Hawaii, particularly on his ship, which plies the waters from Oahu to Kauai, then the Big Island and Maui, Wirkala said: ''Because it's Hawaii."

''I've been all over the world, and Hawaii is the best place on earth," he said. ''I never get tired of sailing there. I love the weather, the islands, the culture, Honolulu, the palm trees. . . . And sailing is so much better than flying from island to island. You can see so much more and can obviously forget about packing and unpacking."

NCL America is a subsidiary of the Norwegian Cruise Line, which has pioneered ''freestyle cruising," allowing passengers to dine each evening in any of their ships' restaurants (the Pride of Aloha has six) when they like and with whom they wish. The Pride of Aloha's cheery Hawaii decor and the emphasis on Hawaiian culture -- such as the ship's museum of Hawaiian artifacts and the lessons in lei-making -- reflect the ship's year-round itinerary.

As captain of an all-American ship, Wirkala may perform weddings on board. (Masters of vessels flying foreign flags may not.) ''I'm licensed by the state of Hawaii," he said. ''On the Independence, I did 25 weddings, and I really enjoyed that."

Wirkala studied at Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay, earning a bachelor of science degree in marine transportation and a third officer's license, after graduating from Braintree High in 1978.

''Then I went to sea," said Wirkala, who was a deck officer aboard tankers traveling all over the world. In 1990, at age 31, he was the youngest person in US history to become a ship pilot for the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the nation's only deepwater oil import facility. He joined the Norwegian Cruise Line in 2003.

Finnish and Swedish on his father's side and English and German on his mother's, Wirkala said he likes working with an all-American and mostly Hawaiian crew. ''We have island life on board because of the crew," he said. ''They don't have the class distinctions that international crews do, so they're much more apt to strike up conversations with passengers, giving them information all week about the islands."

He finds that the men and women on his ship work as hard as the international crews on other cruise ships.

''There was some concern about that before we started out," he said. ''But Americans have always worked hard. This is America, after all; we put a man on the moon, so why wouldn't they be better than anyone else?"

Wirkala was 14 when he began to build his cat boat and 17 when he finished.

''I sailed it for the first time one day before starting Massachusetts Maritime Academy," he recalled. ''Hurricane Bob in 1991 put bad holes in my boat, but it's still alive, still sitting in Duxbury, three months away from completion.

''When we move back, I have to repair the boat and get the snow blower ready. Actually, my wife has to get it ready. She says, 'You're going to leave me in Duxbury in the winter and go to Hawaii?' But the family will come back on the ship at Christmas time."

Wirkala, whose schedule has him working for three months followed by three months off, hasn't thought of professional plans beyond the Pride of Aloha.

''I think I met my future; it doesn't get better than this," he said on the ship's open deck, with Maui's green, fluted mountains in the distance.