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Kon-Tiki 2 expedition in 2015.
The Kon Tiki 2 expedition main goal was to sail balsa rafts from Peru to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) – and back.
Expedition leader and initiator was Torgeir Higraff.
Background
To build the rafts, 44 balsa trees were cut in Ecuador with the help of experts in the wood species.
The logs were tied together to float at the SIMA shipyard in Callao, with the help of the Peruvian Navy. The rafts was then been given masts, sails and rudders. Hardwood planks that can steer the rafts by changing position and depth in water.
The plan was to reach Rapa Nui after about six weeks and 5,000 kilometers. Then the expedition turned around and headed back to South America.
The rafts were equipped with satellite communication and regular updates on social media. Also tested records of water quality and marine diversity.
In 2006, Higraff sailed the Tangaroa expedition from Peru to French Polynesia, which followed in the wake of Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition.
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Kon-Tiki 2 expedition in 2015.
Technology
The fleet had the latest technology. This was both to help them navigate the ocean currents better, and to be able to communicate with the rest of the world during the journey. Among other things, the crew blogged, made podcasts and filmed the journey. The Thor Heyerdahl Institute was one of the expedition's main sponsors.
Key questions Thor Heyerdahl asked himself were whether the early Polynesians and the first Americans really developed in splendid isolation from each other? Or was there a pattern of contacts connecting the coastal part of the Inca empire and the people who erected the mysterious standing stone heads on Easter Island? For centuries this was one of the enduring mysteries of the ancient world.
Historical Return
There is no doubt that the South Americans possessed the maritime expertise and technology to sail from South America to Polynesia. What remains unknown, however, is whether they were also able to return. We know that the Polynesian people used canoes and rafts for settlement in the Pacific, but no one knows whether they had robust enough vessels to make the daunting journey to South America.
The Kon-Tiki 2 Expedition set sail in November 2015 and The Thor Heyerdahl Institute was the proud main sponsor.