User:Mindspillage/kontiki

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A six man-crew including the grandson of "Kon-Tiki" adventurer Thor Heyerdahl set sail from Lima, Peru on Friday. Olaf Heyerdahl, 28, is one of the four Norwegians aboard the "Tangaroa", along with one Swede and one Peruvian. The crew plan to complete a 5,000 mile journey to Polynesia on a 56-foot balsa raft.

The 1947 voyage took 101 days for the six-man crew to complete the route, in order to test the theory that the islands were populated by settlers from South America. The balsa raft was intended to be as close as possible to the vessels used by those early voyagers, and had only the most basic radio equipment. The Tangaroa, also a simple balsa wood raft of the same design, is larger than the Kon-Tiki, with modern navigational aids, solar panels, and a few extra life rafts.

Filmmaker Anders Berg will be recording the adventure of the younger Heyerdahl. The crew will also maintain a weblog. Thor Heyerdahl's "Kon-Tiki" trip was made into both a movie, which won a 1951 Academy Award, and a best-selling book.


 * Heyerdahl's theory later rejected by anthropologists
 * trip funding
 * sail differences, possibly more similar to original Peruvian
 * purpose of trip: water samples/ecological study, navigation, speed trip, adventure/follow path of Kon-Tiki
 * voyage postponed from planned date
 * food: fishing, rations