Tangaroa Expedition facts for kids
The Tangaroa Expedition was an exciting journey that happened in 2006. It was a lot like the famous Kon-Tiki expedition, where people sailed a raft made of balsa wood from Peru to Polynesia. The Tangaroa expedition was even more successful than Kon-Tiki. It had a better sail and used special boards called guaras to steer. This trip continued the scientific work of Thor Heyerdahl, who explored old sailing methods.
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What Was the Tangaroa Expedition?
The Tangaroa Expedition was a journey across the Pacific Ocean on a special raft. The goal was to show that ancient people could have sailed long distances using simple boats. This expedition built on the ideas of Thor Heyerdahl, who believed that people from South America might have traveled to Polynesia thousands of years ago.
The Raft: Tangaroa
The raft was named after Tangaroa, who is the sea-god in Māori stories. It was built to look like old boats used by people in the Andes mountains a long time ago. The raft had a special square sail that let it sail against the wind, which is called tacking. This was a big improvement!
The raft was about 16 meters (52 feet) long and 8 meters (26 feet) wide. Even though it looked ancient, it had modern tools too. These included equipment for navigation (finding their way) and communication (talking to people). They had solar panels to make electricity, portable computers, and even machines to turn sea water into fresh drinking water. The crew also shared updates on their journey online!
The Brave Crew
The Tangaroa raft had a crew of six brave men. The leader was Torgeir Sæverud Higraff from Norway. One of the crew members was Olav Heyerdahl, who is the grandson of the famous explorer Thor Heyerdahl. The captain was Bjarne Krekvik, and Øyvin Lauten was the executive officer. Anders Berg from Sweden was the photographer, and Roberto Sala was from Peru.
The Journey and Its Success
The Tangaroa raft started its journey on April 28, just like the Kon-Tiki expedition had. It reached its destination on July 7. This was a super fast trip! The Tangaroa took only 71 days, which was 30 days quicker than the Kon-Tiki, which took 101 days.
The main reason Tangaroa was so much faster was because the crew knew how to use the guara centerboards correctly. These boards helped them steer the raft much better. Thor Heyerdahl had not known how to use them properly on his Kon-Tiki raft.
The Documentary
A documentary film was made about this amazing journey. It was called The Tangaroa Expedition (or Ekspedisionen Tangaroa in Norwegian). It was made by Videomaker in Norway in 2007. The photographers Anders Berg and Jenssen filmed the expedition.
