Norwegians to Re-Create Kon-Tiki Journey
- From: "peace dream" <peace.dream1234@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 16:44:15 +0300
http://www.happynews.com/news/4192006/norwegians-to-recreate-koniki-journey.htm
Norwegians to Re-Create Kon-Tiki Journey
By Associated Press
RICK VECCHIO
Updated: 04/19/06
LIMA, Peru
Nearly 60 years after Thor Heyerdahl's Pacific Ocean crossing aboard the
balsa raft Kon-Tiki, a Norwegian team is in Peru putting final touches on a
new vessel to repeat the journey.
"I think we are mentally prepared and we are really, really anxious to put
this raft in the ocean," said Olav Heyerdahl, 28, the adventurer's grandson
and one of the six-member crew.
Behind him in a dry-dock in Lima's port of Callao loomed the balsa raft
Tangaroa _ named for the Polynesian god of the ocean _ which is scheduled to
set sail April 28.
The expedition had been set for last year, but was postponed after key
sponsors diverted funds to help victims of the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami.
In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl and his team sailed their primitive raft 5,000 miles
from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days to support Heyerdahl's theory that the
South Sea Islands were settled by ancient mariners from South America.
Heyerdahl, who died in 2002 at age 87, documented his voyage in the
best-selling book "Kon-Tiki" and in an Oscar-winning documentary film.
The adverturer's 67-year-old son, Thor Heyerdahl Jr., came to Peru to see
the new vessel and cheer on his own son. "I'm very happy for him that he
gets this opportunity," he said.
The new 56-foot vessel is larger than the Kon-Tiki, with eight crossbeams
lashed to 11 balsa logs from Ecuador and covered by a bamboo deck. Atop a
hardwood cabin, the crew fitted a thatched-reed roof made by Aymara Indians.
The Kon-Tiki carried only the most basic equipment, even by 1947 standards.
But the Tangaroa features abundant modern technology, including solar panels
to generate electricity and satellite navigation and communications gear.
"We have seen this project grow from just an idea, a dream, and then
suddenly you are 10 days away from being on the raft on the sea," said
Swedish filmmaker Anders Berg, who will document the journey. "It's like
pregnancy, I would say."
The Kon-Tiki was equipped with a primitive sail and could not navigate
against the wind. Its journey ended when it foundered on a reef near Tahiti.
A large, square sail of woven Peruvian cotton will be mounted on the
Tangaroa this week.
Team leader Torgeir Saeverud Higraff said such sails were common in
prehistoric Peru, and much better than Thor Heyerdahl could have imagined in
1947.
Spanish chroniclers wrote centuries ago of Inca lords who sailed the Pacific
on large, navigable balsa vessels nearly 70 years before the conquistadors
came to Peru in 1532, he said.
The expedition is a $800,000 venture backed by the Norwegian Environment
Ministry, private businesses and Heyerdahl's hometown of Larvik, Norway.
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