It was by pure luck that I stumbled upon a book called Kon-Tiki while at a small local flea market. I was looking for old fishing magazines when an old faded hard cover book caught my eye for some reason. At first sight the book looked like nothing more then a beat up novel, clearly older then myself, without so much as a title on its cover. Everyone who had glanced through the bin marked fifty cents, had judged this book by its cover and left it behind. On closer inspection I noticed the book had what appeared to be some sort of tribal warrior mask engraved into its cover. I flipped through the book slowly and immediately my interest was peaked. The title read: Kon-Tiki Across the Pacific By Raft, by Thor Heyerdahl. Further into the book there were old photographs of life on the raft including several pictures of impressive fish. I reached in my pocket for change, counted fifty cents, and purchased the book.
After reading through much of the book I looked online for more information and to my surprise, a small crew of men were planning to complete Heyerdahl’s epic expedition in the near future. In 1947 Heyerdahl set out on his Kon-Tiki expedition in a copy of a prehistoric South American raft to prove that prehistoric man was capable of making the journey from South America to Polynesia. Just a few days ago, on April 28 2006, the Tangaroa expedition began with new improved raft designs coupled with some modern technological advances.
The voyage has been called “the greatest fishing trip†and the good folks over at Mustad have once again helped to sponsor the journey.
I highly recommend reading Heyerdahl’s book and following along with the current expedition here. I’ll be following this one from start to finish, wishing I was there!
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