Posted on 02/07/2005 6:01:51 AM PST by franksolich
New 'Kon-Tiki' expedition postponed
Norwegian organizers of a new expedition in a replica of the late explorer Thor Heyerdahl's famed "Kon-Tiki" raft were supposed to cast off from Peru this spring. Now they're aiming for the spring of 2006 instead.
The group of adventurers, which included a grandson of Heyerdahl, had high hopes for their so-called "Tangaroa Expedition," named after a Polynesian god of the sea. They planned to set off April 28, on a 101-day voyage across the Pacific.
The tsunamis that hit Asia on December 26, however, doused those plans. Important sponsors decided to redirect funding grants to tsunami victims instead of to the Tangaroa project.
"We have deep respect for their priorities, and support them wholeheartedly," the expedition team announced recently.
Expedition leader Torgeir Sæverud Higraff said the voyage, in a papyrus raft from Lima to Polynesia, is now set to begin on April 28, 2006.
I had forgotten about the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl, whose book about the first expedition during the 1950s, was surely read by every American schoolchild during the 1960s.
"Ping" for the Norway ping list.
Good morning from the snow-covered prairies of Nebraska, the Norway of America. Usually, generally, most of the time, I like snow, but now, looking out upon the bluish-pink rising of the winter sun over these fruited plains, I losing my patience with winter.
And Heyerdahl was later proven to be completely wrong about his theory of Polynesian settlement.
Yeah, that too, when he was proven woefully wrong, about the 1970s, I think.
But still, the book itself made for interesting reading, battling the waves, and all that.
Sure was. I remember the vivid pictures and the bombardment of the flying fish. Heyedahl proved his point and he did so courageously...but what the heck are these guys trying to prove? Same sort of thing with Will Steger and his polar expedition a few years back. In my neck of the woods (MN) he was seranaded in the press like a super-human god. Yeah, he spent a few cold weeks up there, but so what! The REAL heroes, writ large, are the men that took real chances with primitive equipment, no communications and NO chance of rescue as they went into the truly unknown. These guys are just staving off adulthood.
I agree with you, sir; those who undertook real risks and perils are the real heroes.
There is quite a difference between undertaking an expedition in which case the whole world is watching, and so if something goes wrong, rescue is possible--and an expedition in which one ventures into the unknown with no means of communication and rescue if something goes wrong.
Robert Scott in Anarctica was a real hero; "Admiral" Richard Byrd in Anarctica (and the Arctic) was a wannabe who took not nearly the same risks and perils.
well said
There is no snow here in Bergen, Norway today. Sunshine, and believe it or not, no rain from a place that had 570 mm of rain in Decemeber and averages 10 feet a year.
Yeah, I agree with y'all about Scott. I have a copy of his last journal someplace and this last entry or two before he died are tremendously powerful. He directs those that find the journal to take care of the survivors, praises his men, blesses his nation and commends himself to god.
Modern 'explorers' do not have that kind of metal. The mass death, desertion and accusations of the Everest climbing party a few years back demonstrated what I mean. Meanwhile, Mallory still lies up there with a broken leg and head facing the summit.
Meanwhile, average people - not looking for risk or adventure - were the one's that took on the Islamofascists on the doomed flights on 911. Average American folks, still preoccupied with things like family and responsibility, looked at their mortality and acted with courage and resolution.
I remember lurking and reading Barbara Olson. Todd Beamer and his words "Let's roll." All of the firefighters, civilians and cops. A slew of others that never knew that they were about to enter into eternity acted with bravery I have no doubt that they were given honorary memberships in the 'Explorer's Club' of eternity.
I envy you, sir--not so much because of the lack of snow, but because you're in Norway.
Ever been to Svalbard?
It is odd; this is only the 12th day of the "Norway ping list" (holler at me if you wish to be kept up-to-date about Norway.....although in your case, you know more about it than we do), and I have been utterly surprised at how much I and others have learned about Norway.
Up until twelve days ago, Norway, the Nebraska of Europe, had been one of the furthest things from my mind--I never thought about Norway, I never worried about Norway, I never lost any sleep over Norway.....and now suddenly Norway is occupying a whole hour of every day (besides the usual standard customary working and sleeping).
I envy you, sir.
The real problem, of course, deals with loading and the weight associated with all the booze that the Norwegians will have to load on the raft.
You know, sir, for some reason I never associated Norwegians with "drinking."
Alaskans, yes; northern Canadians, yes; and I had ample opportunities for observing, first-hand and up-close, the swilling habits of the Irish, the Scots, the English, and most especially the Russians and Ukrainians.
But Norwegians as drinkers never entered my mind.
It is true that the Swedes customarily exhibit symptoms of heavy drinking--their wild warlike rampages of looting and plundering Europe--but I always thought that was their temperament, not their alcohol; I assumed (apparently incorrectly) Swedes are just that way, naturally.
It is peculiar; when looking at the history of Nebraska, the Norway of America, where the largest ethnic minority is Scandinavian, but of those Scandinavians, 99% appear to be of Danish descent, it was the Danes in Nebraska during circa 1890-1920 who provided the most manpower for the Prohibitionist movement.
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