Across the Pacific

Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl
Reviewed by Philip Spinner

In the beginning of Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki, he recalls one day when he was on an island named Fatu Hiva with his wife. They overheard an old man who was sitting by a fire talking about an aincient god named Tiki. The man said that Tiki was the son of the sun and he was the first to come to the island where Thor and his wife had been living for almost a year. The legend says that Tiki was the first to sail from Peru, in South America, to Polynesia in a balsa wood raft. That was when Thor first got his idea of sailing a raft to Poleneysia. Later in the book Thor and five other men set off in a raft to prove that the ancient Incas were able to sail on rafts across the Pacific Ocean.

The book starts out with Thor going to the Explorer's Club, the U.S. Government and other people to get permission and money for the trip. There were some people who gave him things to try out on his raft, like food packets, a rubber dinghy, etc. At first there were a lot of people who did not think that anyone could sail across the Pacific ocean in a wooden raft. After a while, he finally found some companies to support him. While he was looking, he had to find some of his old friends that he could live with for a few months. He found five of his friends to go on the expedition with him. There names were Bengt Danielsson, Knut Haugland, Torstein Raaby, Herman Watzinger, and Erik Hesselberg. When Thor got everything planned, they all flew to South America to get permission from the President of Peru to be able to have a private place to build a raft and sail the raft off the coast of Peru. After several days he got permission and started building the raft.

The next step was to find the wood for the raft. They needed balsa wood and they needed whole logs because they were the only size that would fit the plans for the raft. They went to a lumberyard but the logs that they had there were too short, so they had to go and cut the balsa trees down themselves. That was hard because it was raining so much that the forests were flooded and it was hard to get through. They managed to get through the floods and cut down the trees. After a lot of work they got the trees down and started building the raft.

The voyage started out with some trouble but they managed to get through the worst of the waves and storms. After a few days the weather got better and the waves were less rough. One day Thor noticed that the logs were absorbing water! He was afraid that the raft would soak up so much water that it would sink. He figured out that the logs were just absorbing the water on the outside but they were staying dry in the middle and that was enough to keep them afloat and moving.

There were many incidences with flying fish. Thor explained that the person who was on steering duty at night usually got smacked in the face by a flying fish that lost its course. There were a few times when there were sharks right alongside them too. Thor hoped that no one would fall into the water. What will happen? Will they make it? Read the book and find out.

Kon- Tiki was a good book. It explained the long and hard journey of six men on a raft sailing across the Pacific Ocean. The book was scary at times and funny at other times. I suggest Kon-Tiki to anyone who likes adventures.

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