[Update: some hours later, all crew members are onshore enjoying a fantastic welcome — food and drinks included — organized by our friends on Rapa Nui! The pictures below shows how wonderful grass feels, how good it is to be at Jacqueline's fabulous party, and the Rahiti crew at buoy]
Some first reactions from the crew:
I want to try to give a picture on how it is to sail a raft and how it is to steer with guaraboards, or daggerboards. Now we have been out sailing for over four weeks. Mostly we have had southeasterly and easterly winds. They have been from a light breeze to what we in Norway call a frisk bris, about 10 m/s, maybe up to a small gale in some showers. Even tough we have sailed and steered this vessel for a month now, we experience new things every day.
Continue reading here...
(2015-12-18) We have been out here in the southeast Pacific for more than a month, and we never tire of the changing skies. We may not have seen as many stars as we expected, but on the other hand we have overdosed on beautiful clouds. You can see some of our favorites in these pictures.
(2015-12-18) The 1st place of the most exciting feelings and sensations of this journey gets climbing on the mast. first time it was a little scary, because of unstable and twisting and trembling ladder, but in couple of times i've used for it. and that sense, when you are standing on the soar (top of the sail) and watching the horizon espesially in the time of sunrise... it is more than freedom or inspiration or beauty. it is happiness. and this happiness is so real and concentrate, that it seems, you can touch it with your hands. "amazing" is too light word to describe it.
Signe woke me up carefully saying I think you want to bring out your sextant this morning. And she was so right! I am listing up our sights, and you can use them for navigation training purposes. A special greetings to SOCIEDAD ASTRONOMICA Y GEOGRAFICA DE CIUDAD REAL. Un saludo desde nuestra balsa.
We are in position S 31,72 W 106 3,9
The sights were:
Betelgeuse approx 06:22, angle 23
Riegel 06:30:57 angle 23
X (planet/star over Betelgeuse) 06:32:10 angle 45:50
Rigil Kent 06:29:52
X (probably Sirius, compass 300) 06:34:15 angle 42:50
Venus 06:36:18 angle 24:33 (bearing:165)
X (probably Sirius) 06:41:17 angle 42 (compass:275)
06:44:23 angle 42
Mars 06:50:25 angle:55
Venus
06:45:30 angle 26:37
06:51:45.angle 37:15
06:54:40 angle 28:58
06:55:46 angle 28:03
06:56:34 angle 28:05
06:57:34 angle 28
06:59:09 angle 29:42
07:00:15 angle 29:56
07:01:17 angle 30:04
07:02:22 angle 30:27
(2015-12-15) On our voyage across the Pacific ocean, the Kon-Tiki2 Expedition does not find many rocks, islands, or reefs to stay clear of. In that way, navigation has been very easy. Tonight we will be heading over a hidden island (in Spanish: isla fantasma) called Roca Minnehaha. This island was first spotted by a ship called Victoria in 1879. It has not been seen for many years, but is kept in the nautical charts — just in case it is there. There are many wonders below and around us and Roca Minnehaha could be one of them. So tonight, we keep sharp look-out.
[The editor was awoken by a cheerful crew on Rahiti Tane on VHF this morning. They reported that no isla fantasma had been spotted overnight, even if the island is real enough to have its own page in Wikipedia. The first picture shows how the island appears on printed nautical charts (with captain Øyvin Lauten's authentic markings), and the second picture shows the Pacific ocean as we see it just now. No islas — fantasma or real — only the beautiful Rahiti Tane on the horizon.]
In the pictures, Andrey is seen with his signature bandana, and his signature musical instrument. Andrey appreciates many means of transport, including buses in Callao and rubber dinghys in the Pacific. He likes the ocean (helpful in the Pacific), and quickly learnt the ropes on the raft. Given a few more months, there would have been been seven blue-eyed Norwegian speakers onboard Tupac Yupanqui!
(2015-12-14) Our fifth week has passed and it's been somewhat of an international food week. We've had a taste of India, Italy, Indonesia, USA and a few places in between. We've also invented some new dishes and we have started sprouting lentils! So now we have fresh vegetables in the form of sprouted lentils, we have rehydrated vegetables from the dried ones Gunvor brought and we also still have some onions and garlic. Who would've thought we'd be eating fresh vegetables in the middle of the ocean? The menu:
We never throw any food overboard, and so breakfast and lunch are good opportunities to use leftovers. We always have oatmeal for breakfast, and very often this porridge consists of more than just oats and water. Leftover rice and quinoa are good additions to the porridge. Our expedition doctor Boris tells me that a mixed porridge of oats and rice is called friendship in Russia — we have friendship for breakfast several times a week and it tastes much better than just plain oatmeal! Whatever porridge is left over is used as a base for baking bread or making pancakes. Whenever we finish another pot of peanut butter we put water into it and shake to get the last bits out, and use this in a sauce. This way we make sure that we never waste any food.
Now we've entered what will probably be our last week at sea and since Sunday was Lucia-day we baked lussekatter!
Today the Tupac crew lifted the quality of the expedition dataset up many many levels, with their deep water CTD cast to 2000 meters. Who would have thought it would be possible to perform that sort of operation on a little, open-deck raft, with a sail-winch run on solar power and some kevlar rope thinner than the knitting yarn on Rahiti Tane? Well, its time to eat some hats — Tupac did it :). Proud of science, proud of dedication, proud of the Kon Tiki 2 Expedition!
[The three last pictures show the recoved CTD with David Short (left) and Håkon Wium Lie, Expedition leader Torgeir Higraff, and the Tupac Yupanqui balsa raft from where the CTD was cast]
(2015-12-12) Setting off in two small balsa rafts in the Pacific Ocean to sail over 2.000 nautical miles, with 7 people on each raft without knowing each other — this is close to CRAZY, or at least a social experiment. To lower the risk of a social disaster at sea we agreed to have a team-building session before we left Peru for Easter Island. Four out of seven went to Machu Picchu, two blue (explanation will follow) did not want to prioritize this and one got ill. The team-building session was postponed. Not a good start on building a super team. During our second week at sea we finally made some room for a second try. We all were curious about each other and needed to learn and understand more about our dreams, different backgrounds, cultures and "secrets". On board Rahiti Tane we have a Russian, Chilean, Norwegian/Canadian and four Norwegians, three males and four females, seven different occupations: a doctor, a scientist, a teacher, a martial art trainer, a rescue officer, a professional sailor and an HR manager.
The aim of the session was to use the concept of Red, Blue and Green (a so-called Diversity Icebreaker) to contribute to a mutual recognition of differences, providing positive and useful learning process, by using humor and self-irony. Diversity Icebreaker is an unique concept for communication preferences, to identify your preferred behavior: Blue is task-oriented, Red is relational, and Green is change oriented. Most of us have one dominant color, but we all have some of all tree colors. There is no right or wrong.
Rahiti Tane ended up with two significant Blue, two Red and tree Green. We became curious about each other, and some stated that they developed a new knowledge about themselves and others through humorous dialogue and direct involvement. One stated: now it's easier to understand and forgive others of their "strange" behavior or communication. By investing less than two hours on this, I believe we achieved fewer conflicts, more trust and forgiveness, more positive cooperation, and a more constructive team dynamics — thanks to Diversity Icebreaker!
[The pictures show the facilitator, participants at work, and a Red button carried by two members of the crew]
A quick note on towing: all recent expeditions, including Kon-Tiki in 1947, have been towed from port. We do not have access to unlimited numbers of rowers, and we have modern shipping lanes to worry about.
What the critics need to understand about these voyages is that it's not the crew that is fantastic, but the reed boat they're sitting on. When I set off on Kon-Tiki, I had no form of training in maritime affairs. Yet, I came back and I was applauded by the admiralities for my seamanship! It was ... ridiculous!
We must hasten to say that the crew on the Kon-Tiki2 rafts are fantastic, and that they show strong seamanship — unlike Kon-Tiki we are actually sailing our balsa rafts. Still, the balsa rafts are truly magnificent vessels which we would like to celebrate with some beautiful pictures. The first three show Tupac Yupanqui, the last three show Rahiti Tane. The final sunset picture may be the most beautiful view of any raft, ever. Until we see Rapa Nui in the background, that is.
Based on the earlier blog What the ocean would have said at COP21 I just received an interesting challenge from Heidi and Heikki Niskanen in Finland. This wonderful couple were part of the raft building team in Peru. And now, from their warm house in winter Finland they ask: What would Cecilie have said at COP21?
Read Cecilie's response in the Science page
(2015-12-09) Readers may have noticed a small Russian flag in the upper right corner of our homepage. Try clicking on it, and you will be take to our site, in Russian translation! Thanks to the initiative of Anna Turchaninova and Alexey Danilov, news from our rafts reach Russians — many of whom grew up with tales of Thor Heyerdahl and his expeditions, as told by Yuri Senkevich. Among the volunteer translators are Tatyana Chesnokova, Dmitry Chesnikov, Anna Turchaninova, Tatyana Gluhareva, Andrey Kuznetsov, Danila Oleolenko, Anastasia Petrova and many expedition fans in Russia. The three Russians on our Expedition — Boris Romanov, Andrey Chesnokov, and Sergey Goltsov — warmly appreciate having the backing from their own country, in their own language.
In the pictures above, Signe is first shown wearing proper protection gear at the SIMA yard. The second picture gives us an indication that she never wastes a minute; even the bus rides to and from SIMA were productive. The next three pictures are taken on Rahiti Tane, where Signe shows good her good humor, a smiling face, and an attentive look to the rigging. The final picture is from 2009 when the photographer first met Signe on the Christian Radich — the attentive look to the rigging was already there.
(2015-12-08) Do you have experience from documentary filmmaking? Do you want to take part in a unique epic voyage and document dramatic events, scientific exploration, and social life onboard digitally for future viewers on web and television? Can you free yourself from other commitments from the end of December until the beginning of March? If so, send us an email. No email attachments, please.
(2015-12-08) Today is exactly one month of our independent sailing! No towboat and no land on horizon. I don't know about other crewmembers, but for me this date is very important! So, let's sum up!
The crew has a good mood, the wind is bringing us to our goal, the ocean is calm and kind to us. And we sailing. I think, it's enough. My congratulations for all crewmembers of both rafts, Keep on sailing!
We have had some questions about camera equipment: most images on this site are taken with Håkon's Canon EOS 6D, the bird pictures use a Canon 70-200mm 1:4 IS lens, most pictures with people use a Canon 17-40mm 1:4 lens, while the close-ups use a Sigma 1:2.8 DG Macro lens.
(2015-12-07) Now that we have managed to make a deep-water cast, thanks to the hard, dedicated work by the crew on Tupac, it is time to reflect a bit on the importance of such deep-water measurements. There are many ways to make measurements at the sea surface: you can place sensors on satellites and they can measure anything from sea surface height to chlorophyll and salinity. You can put sensors on instruments you bring out to sea, and you simply tie the instrument to the side of the ship. We have many such sensors tied to our raft. And you can analyze the water directly, using a variety of chemicals, alternatively bring the samples back to shore for further analysis as we will do.
(2015-12-07) Another week has passed, and we still have some vegetables left! Seeing as we don't have any means of keeping food refrigerated, we could only bring so much of certain food types. The air temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius in the shade, so we have had our fruits and vegetables hanging from the ceiling of the cabin in crates, mesh bags and hammocks. The onions are now five and a half weeks old and most look almost new, same goes for the garlic. We also still have oranges and lime. So if you think your food gets old after a few days, think again. Most foods keep well long after their sell-by date and often also the consume-by date.
We got some food-tips from kind readers, thanks a lot! Olga, your tip about mashing chick peas in a bag with a rolling pin has been duly tested, only we used a large rubber hammer instead. I believed it worked for squid-meat as well. Thank you.
So the menu:
We're on the brink of breaking into our secret storage of dried vegetables that Gunvor brought with her from home. She has a dehydrator and spent some time before departure drying broccoli, chives, carrots, red beets, onions, blueberries, mushrooms and more. These are to be soaked overnight and then you have vegetables! Perfect for long voyages, not only at sea but in the mountains where weight is an issue. And they don't go bad. Perfect!
The coming week has been kickstarted already as this is written a bit late, and if it continues in the same style it will be another great food week in the Pacific!
(2015-12-06) So far on this voyage, Tupac has been the sharpest sailing balsa of the two rafts. But something has changed. The last week or so, the distance between us has increased, little by little. We were 12nm miles apart at eight o clock last night. Rahiti Tane have been sailing as slow as she can, not gaining height, the crew hardly working at the helm all night. And still we gained another 2,5 nm and some height.
As we have been struggling for a month to keep up with Tupac, we have all become good and fokused helmsmen. Even the fresh sailors have been reading the squalls, trying to get most out of each shift of wind. And we have to continue to work hard if we are going to get to the little island ahead of us with the winds that are predicted in the forecasts we receive. They will continue to be easterly the next week, increasing a little in strength.
Today we used the time when we waited for Tupac to become even better at sailing balsas. We have been sailing on one tack, port tack, the whole way. At mid-day, when we were all well rested after night watches, we made some different maneuvers. We turned downwind a few times (kuvending). It was as some had expected, when we lifted all guaras in front and lowered in the back she came about real easy. Stopped when she had the wind astern. There we tested the new sheet and compared the sides of the sail. When we lowered guaras in front and pulled them up in the back, she continued around ontothe starboard tack. We also wanted to practice the coolest maneuver of all – going over stay, tacking (stagvending). None of us have done it on a balsa raft before, and the sailors are excited to test the maneuverability of the raft. We decided not to do it today, but we will take our time and get in some more guara-maneuvers before we reach Rapa Nui.
Many people participated in the Norwegian Expedition 60 years ago, among them Gonzalo Figueroa, an archaeologist and authority on the conservation of the archaeological heritage of Rapa Nui. Figueroa was only a 24-year-old graduate student in archaeology when he joined Heyerdahl's expedition, with four professional archaeologists: Arne Skjolsvold, William Mulloy, Edwin Ferndon, and Carlyle Smith. Without Heyerdahl's initiative and brave investment, talents like Figueroa might have had less interesting careers. Figueroa got a flying start as an assistant and then spent over four decades to conserve and restore the archaeological monuments of Rapa Nui for future generations. We are looking forward to seeing with our own eyes the results of Figueroa's work!
(2015-12-05) Saturday has become the favorite day of many of the crew of Rahiti Tane. In the daytime we take our bedclothes, PJs, blankets and towels out to dry. This day was especially nice because the sun is shining. The women of the raft had their weekly bath up front, while the men were hunting a dorado with a harpoon in the back. The hunt ended with an empty pan, and the skipper made an attempt to make Tom Ka Gai, her favorite soup. But with only coconut milk as ordinary ingredient, the result was named "as-close-as-we-get-to-Thailand-on-this-trip". The head of provision, Signe always has something especially delicious for us to eat and drink on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tonight we are having popcorn, and maybe a movie? (When I say this out loud, Boris says "movie" and points to the horizon)
In the pictures, one can see the CTD and the 3mm kevlar rope used in the operation. The rope is stored on an iron bobbin, while an electric winch helps pull the CTD back up onto the surface. The 900 watts electric winch ran on pure solar power, which would otherwise be wasted in the crew's personal entertainment systems. The whole operation took 4 hours. One of those hours were used to move the pulleys from one side of the raft to the other, to avoid having the rope churn on the raft.
The new pictures also allowed us to replace the picture of Tangaroa, which has been our masthead until now. An even better day will allow us to photograph both rafts, in the sun, with sails, and Easter island in the background. Just you wait.
In the pictures above, we can see that Pål likes good food and good company. He has a boyish smile which never leaves him, one that he generously shares with others – just like he did with the octopus. The last picture shows Pål at the top of the mast, today!
Our raft doctor, Bora, is a favorite. Several of our readers have requested more pictures of the man, and an army of volunteers have been hard at work to fulfill demand. The rare pictures seen here have passed not once, but twice, through the Iridium satellite systems. Some bits got lost up there somewhere, but we can still recognize Bora and other crew members. Bora wisely keeps his medicine chest locked, but is otherwise a most generous crew member.
Dear delegates, dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great honor to be given the floor at the 21st Conference of the Parties here in Paris – a meeting of enormous consequences for Earth, its elements, and all its creatures, great and small. The agreements that are reached at the 2015 climate summit will have consequences for times so far into the future that only the ocean and the mountains will remember.
Today I wish to turn your attention to an aspect of climate change that you have quite possibly never considered. It is an issue of great importance and grave consequences for the ocean, namely that of oxygen depletion. You may not know this, but the animals in the ocean need oxygen to live, just like the animals at land. And, as on land, it is the plants that produce the oxygen. In fact, the ocean normally produces much more oxygen than it needs, and therefore shares its oxygen with the animals in land, including you humans. Nearly half the oxygen you use originates in the ocean. So you see, we, the Ocean, provide a great service as oxygen producer to all Earth's creatures, wherever they live.
And I tell you about this because I fear that we, the Ocean, cannot continue to provide this service at the same high standard much longer. We cannot even supply enough oxygen for our own creatures anymore. "Why?" you may ask. Well, the ultimate reason is the emission of carbon dioxide associated with combustion of fossil fuels. This emission creates temperature increases in the ocean, just like on land. And when the surface ocean gets warmer it gets more buoyant, making it difficult to mix the surface waters with the deep water. Here it gets a little complicated, but no less important: the ocean plants that produce the oxygen live in the surface waters. Less mixing by the winds means less oxygen transported downwards, to where the ocean animals need it. And less mixing means fewer nutrients coming up from the deep ocean to provide food for the ocean plants. Less food means fewer plants and thereby even less oxygen production. This is a worrysome trend that we, the Ocean, worry deeply about, not just because it affects our own creatures, but because it affects all Earth's creatures, great and small, rich and poor, women and man, child and old.
There is only one way to stop this worrysome trend, namely to curb the emissions of carbon dioxide. Every day and every year that you postpone this decision, we, the Ocean, weakens and our services – which you all depend upon – deteriorate. We beg of you: if not for us, then your you, make a decision. Produce an agreement at this summit that will put us, the Ocean, back on the path towards health, so that we can, once again, be the top quality oxygen producer that all Earth's creatures, great and small, depend upon.
Thank you kindly for listening.
Most humbly,
We, the Ocean.
On Rahiti Tane, we are quite good at enjoying the small things. Finding a tiny 5cm flying fish on deck in the morning, dry socks, changing to a clean and dry pillowcase, pineapplerings for dessert, clean underwear, dry underwear (dry anything at all really), realising that we have larger amounts of flour than we thought and so can bake more bread, chocolate on wednesdays and saturdays, red nail polish, finishing a book and immediately starting a new one, not being sleepy on night watch for once, starry skies, dry shoes (lasts about 15 minutes). Seeing schools of flying fish, the sun breaking through the clouds. Receiving an e-mail from friends. And last but not least: when someone cleans your dinner bowl for you.
(2015-12-01) Yesteday, Torgeir decided to put on the water our rubber boat to take pictures of Tupac from other point. In Russia we call such boat "Tuzik". It means something, looking very stupid and undependable. We clipped the boat with a carabine to our yellow safety-rope and David and Torgeir floated separately from the raft for fifteen minutes. I was cooking spaghetti that moment. I'm not sure, will we have a possibility to put the Tuzik on the water one more time until Easter Island, and will I have a passion for such floating? So, I decided that it is my last chance to be "alone in the Pacific". I asked Ola to take over for me in the kitchen and went to the aft. There I put on my lifejacket, took a camera and got into the Tuzik. When I was jumping on the waves which were much more sensible than on the raft, I realised two things. First: I'm on the toy-boat above 4000 meters of abyss. Second: it looks absolutely stupid, but very fun, exciting and cool! I've made some pictures of Tupac, wich was grandly and self-reliantly climbing on the waves, some photos of Tupac's green beard and some selfies. Then I asked Jostein to bring me back on the stable raft. And than Jostein tried this attraction. When I pulled him back, i jokingly thought that there is not so much spaghetti for seven people. We laughed at this joke and went to have a dinner. Achievement unlock "alone in the Pacific". Next achievment is "slap the shark's fin"!
Monday was supposed to be a day of joy on Rahiti Tane. Everything was good: sailing speed, the half moon at (supposedly) sunrise, and breakfast in bed for Esteban, who turned 29 today. Again. We took the reefs out of the sails, to cruise even faster, we celebrated birthday lunch and dinner with our favourites: rice, beans, lentls, onions and garlic; the sun sprang out of the cloudy sky for our afternoon coffee and birthday cake, and... THEN EVERYTHING started happening: both fishing rods reported catches: the birthday boy swiftly took one rod, Pål the other until they realizred they had hooked eachother. A quick reshuffle of people and rods were arranged. And Esteban pulled in half a flying fish! The bait, it appared. Whereas Pål continued to reel in and – supposedly – "fight" with the fish (a rather lopsided competition, if you ask me), with Kari and Esteban screaming bloody murder. They looked unusually scary with their double and triple hooks (remember: until now we have only managed to catch one single fish, and as much as we love rice, beans, lentls, onions and garlic, it was exciting to think of a variation). So we all watched this game, which took nearly half an hour, and which ended in a bloodbath too intense for the gentlehearted: Bora, Signe and myself. Anyways, the fish died, was fileed and cleaned, and will provide us omega-3 for the rest of the journey. Now, at this point you might think that the excitement and the obituary ended, but no: as we are all trying to settle down after "the great hunt" two things happened: first: a gigantic wave broke through the floorboards in the cabin, throwing 5-gallon water bottles high into the air, together with survival suits and Bora's medical box. And at the same time the fish hook, which was sort of left floating off the stern of the raft after "the great hunt" was eaten by a seagull who mistook it for a dead fish. So Kari pulls in the line, picks up the bird, talks gently to it and condems it to death. Meanwhile, the rest of us tries to deal with the floorboard. It was a very fine floorboard. Now we have protected it with three times as many waterbottles. So come on, waves, se if you can beat THAT! Anyways, this obituary is in reality for the bird, first and foremost. Why are these birds here, and why do they have to die on our raft? We are very very sorry. It was a very fine bird. R.I.P.
(2015-11-30) Crew member Esteban Contreras celebrated his 39th birthday today! On the Rahiti Tane, he was served breakfast in bed: tea, bread w/jam – and an apple! Pål had saved the apple for 3 weeks and it will be the last apple seen by the crew before arriving in Easter Island. However, Esteban's favorite gift today was to sail Rahiti Tane in good winds and sun. In this authenic VHF converation Esteban elaborates on being a team member, on being sick the first week, and on returning to his Chilean roots – on a raft!
The pictures above show that Esteban is comfortable both behind, and in front of, a camera. His communication skills were vital during our time in Callao, and Esteban also quickly stepped up to the task of being the raft electrician. He is a team player who adds energy, vitality and fun to our expedition.
This week we ran out of carrots, bananas and worst of all: cheese! Parmesan cheese holds well, and we wish we had brought more – it was still very tasty. Anyways, it has been a good food week, kickstarted by Sunday lunch which consisted of fresh bread, omelette and fried rice. We felt like kings. Friday was a special day, we were HALFWAY to Easter Island! The occasion was celebrated with soda, chips and little parasols in our drinks.
The menu for the rest of the week is listed below:
I'd like to say a few words about the most fantastic piece of kitchen equipment we have: the pressure cooker! This beautiful wonderful pot cooks rice to perfection every time, with only half the use of propane gas. Just put water and rice, lentils and beans into the pot, heat until it hisses, turn off the gas and wait for 15 minutes. Voila! For potatoes it's maybe even better, just put the potatoes and 2cm of salt water into the pot, and follow the procedure above. This way we save both water and gas. However, the potatoes we have smell and taste so bad that we've only eaten them once, and now we usually just throw a dirty look in their direction every now and then.
On that note, I'll finish up, and urge whoever is reading this to send creative ideas about what to eat – when our onions run out in a few days and the only vegetable we have left is garlic (and the odd tinned tomato).
[Signe and Gunvor can be reached on sailors.rahiti@myiridium.net]
The tradition of cleaning ship and crew on Saturdays has long been a part of my life. On Rahiti Tane we are four women and three men. We all clean the ship together, wash the solar panels, swipe indoors, shift the mats around and hang our sleeping bags out to get the smell out.
The women started taking a bath together on the first Saturday at sea. This has become a fun highlight of the week for us. Yesterday, it was pretty cold, and we decided to postpone Laugardag. But, as we had lost sight of Tupac due to some really hard night sailing, we put in two søft/reefs to wait for them, and the operation made us sweat enough to to through with baths as planned. We put on our pink matching underwear for the occation. The water is pleasant now, 21 degrees.
[Editor's note: the picture of the female crew on Rahiti attached to this story is a breakthrough in both fashion and technology. It is the first digital image that has escaped Rahiti Tane by satellite. The resolution is close to the first pictures from tbe moonlanding, but colors are more intense. As is the looks in the eyes of the Laugardag partcipants. We hope more images, and more Laugardags, will follow.]
We are in some little stormcenter, and everyone is a little cranky. For the third day in a row, water is exploding up from under the beds every time a huge wave hits. Worst off is Kari, the captain. Water even found its way splashing into her sleeping bag. So she has arranged her bed with every kind of protection against splashes you can think of: ropes, towels, garbage bags, survival suits, rain jacket, you name it, she's got it. And the funny thing about Kari is that no matter how bad it is she finds a funny way to describe it and then she pulls out yet another item her mother has sent along which will improve the situation.
For a while I envied everybody their rain boots, but now that the Pacific is showing its true colors I see boots are not that useful. It is not a question of hours, but minutes, until they are filled with water. As Gunvor puts it: "normally when you're out sailing the water comes from above, not below!". Here, the wave builds up from beneath, finds its way into you rainpants, an then down into your boots. In minutes. So I don't envy those boots so much anymore :)
Everything is humid. Skin is cracking -deeply – on our hands and feet, so we speculated for a while that we were turning into a leper colony out here. But its the humidity. The clothes may LOOK dry once in a while, but that's only an optical illusion. Our Saturday snack – specifically: Pringles – turned to impotent mush in less than five minutes. As usual, Esteban verbalizes what everybody thinks: "I am sick of being wet all the time!".
The Pacific is showing its true colors: not so "pacific", not so blue... But we won't give up. We've seen the weather forecast. We know we will get our fantasy Pacific back. One day :)
What is it about nature? Why is it so beautiful? Why is it ALWAYS so beautiful? Why does it hide so well all its scars and bruises? Why does it let us get away with it all?
I sit on a balsa raft in the Pacific Ocean, leisurely sailing from Peru to Easter Island. I watch the swells go by, the sun come and go, the small squalls pass by, the winds steadily blowing out of the southeast, allowing us, just barely, to steer so far upwind that we have a justified hope of reaching Easter Island before Christmas. In fact, we are two rafts, and both are packed to capacity with research equipment to document the state of the southeast Pacific during this (southern hemisphere) spring, which happens to be in a gigantic El Nino year.
One of the rafts, the Tupac Yupanqui, is dedicated to monitoring plastic pollution. We are crossing one of the five major plastic accumulation regions ("gyres") of the World Oceans, and we have brought many different instruments to acquire a solid data base on this year's gyre. But what do we see? Nothing. Nada. Okey, a coke bottle twice so far, but otherwise: not one thing. The steady, intense winds have efficiently mixed down the plastic so that it looks just as gorgeous as it did 70 years ago when Thor Heyerdahl crossed these seas with the Kon Tiki. "Our" Pacific is probably a bit greyer than the blue colors his crew so eloquently described, but that's because of the weather, not because of some color contamination.
Our instruments will be able to detect particles smaller than the human eye can see, and will be able to record with high precision what the broken-down plastic - the microplastic - consists of and where it most likely came from. Our research therefore adds to the never-ending, painstaking collecting of data that has been the task of the scientist since times immemorial. And microplastic is one of those particularly insidious pollutants; it attracts toxins and it folows the food web of the marine ecosystem, thus slowly poisoning the entire chain. But it doesn't really matter what the scientist collects, does it? Because no one can see it. Can't see the plastic in the oceans nor the poison in the animals. The ocean is gorgeous. And the animal life is up to par. I see dolphins, dorados, whales, flying fish and a multitude of birds. In fact, our raft has turned into its own little ecosystem which we monitor with cameras every day. To us, the marine life looks nothing but happy.
My raft, the Rahiti Tane, is packed with equipment to monitor climate change. We measure ocean temperature, ocean CO2-content, ocean oxygen content, ocean acidity. We know the oceans are behaving like a huge buffer in Earth's big effort to mitigate climate change: the oceans take up a third of all the CO2 that mankind emits every year. And it takes up almost all the heat created by climate change. Almost all! Sure, the global atmospheric temperature is rising, decade by decade, with all its consequences in terms of heat waves, extrem weather, floods and droughts. But that's only a few percent of the heat accumulated on Earth. More than 90 % of that heat is stored, each year, in the oceans. How is that for an efficient buffer? Without the oceans we would already be facing much harsher changes due to climate change. The oceans spare us from facing reality. Damned nature.
Meanwhile I rock gently back and forth on my raft – the Rahiti Tane, so full of personality and crewed with such a lovely croup of people – genuinely proud to be running a full-scale research program purely on solar power. I think of all the interesting research questions I get to address. My only concern is that we are running out of fuses. (Well, and that we are almost out of chocolate...). And then the thought strikes me: this is all in vain. Nobody will care. There cannot possibly be anything wrong with something so beautiful. Damned nature.
Could the ocean, even if it were sitting at the negotiating table at the climate summit in Paris, arguing for the strong climate agreement it really needs, convince anybody to sign anything? I do not know. Because the ocean is SO beautiful. But what would it have said? Now, THAT is an interesting question.
(2015-11-28) Bora loves the team and life on board. He can not cook, but is happy to wash the plates. Yesterday he fixed the guara, and without experience with wood, but managed fine together with Esteban. He likes steering a course. Right now he is playing it like a trombone while singing "My Way". He lost his iPhone and he lost a sock. He believes Triton has good use for it, and is happy to lend them to him. But he is happy that he found his swimming trunks. From time to time he dreams of a dry and quiet bed. And also dry shoes. And it is time to catch fish, the level of protein in the body might be low. His head is very clean and he feels very good.
(2015-11-28) Today I want to give you a guided tour onboard at Rahiti Tane, or Balsa Mama as we have started to call her. At 03.45 in the morning it all starts for me. Bora, our Russian doctor, tickles my foot to wake me up. It is time to take the 0400-0800 watch. When I open my eyes I see straight over to the navigation desk. The GPS glows like a bug in the dark. It tells our speed, position and course over ground. On the port side of me Cecilie, our scientist, wobbles up and down on her inflatable matress. On the starbord side lies Esteban, our carpenter, photographer and Chilean. He almost always lies in a lotus position, wonder how that is possible in a sleepingbag. Anyways, to get out, I have to climb over a box filled with scientific equipment. All this happens inside the hut, which is placed in the middle of the raft. Up til now it has been quite dry in there. But these last couple of days, the captain has complained about water in her bunk. So as the raft sinks down in the sea, and the sea builds up to 4 meter waves, we regulary get the deck cleaned, both inside and outside. Also inside we have the office department, or the scientific area. Cecilie sits there all day long, just outside to take the met-observation, drink a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise.
Because watching the sunrise, drink a cup of coffee and when the sunrise is good, listen to "Morgenstemning" by Grieg, has become a ritual onboard. It all happens in the stern, where we steer the raft. That area is also called the bubblebath-area. All the waves comes in there. It is also nice to take a swim in the eddy behind the raft, if you want a relaxing swimming trip. If you want more action, you can take your swimming on the side of the raft. With a rope around your waist, you can swim as long as you keep the raft's speed. The swimming-area is next to what we call the livingroom. This is in the leeward side of the hut. We have three boxes to sit on, and the best view in the whole Pacific. Flying fish, dorados, dolphins, whales coming up 1,5 m from the raft, birds, all kinds of entertainment happens here. This is also the best place to tan, because there is no wind. It is Pål's favourite place on the raft I think, cause he always sits there reading his book.
In the front of the hut, we have the kitchen. This is where Signe is the boss. She has all kinds of secrets since she is the stuert, the person responsible for food onboard. We have lots of pots and pans, and can make all kinds of food. Lasange, bread, pancakes are some of the favourites. In the front we also have lots of space. Esteban uses it to practice yoga. I like to hang upside down in the sail there. We also got some guaras, some more scientific equipment and tools there. On the port side of the hut, we have the "lesesal". This is were Kari likes to bring her book. Leaning on the dinghy, which is placed up towards the hutwall. And not to forget our toilet which is behind the dinghy, in the back on the port side. These days when we have waves up till 4 m, it is very exciting to sit there. The toilet is on the windward side, same as the waves. So one have to make sure that your pants don't get filled with water as you sit there.
Finally in the far front, we have the shower. Bora uses it every day. The bottom logs continue 2,5 m after the deck, and all the waves hitting the raft make a shower. The area is regulary used by the whole crew. On saturdays the men are banished to the back of the raft, so the female part of the crew can undress and take a shower. The temperature is 21 degrees, says Cecilie's instruments.
So this is our raft and a part of our daily life. We would like to have visitors, so if you happen to be just between Peru and the Easter Island, you are more than welcome to visit.
(2015-11-27) ... still many drops to drink. The video shows Torgeir in a heroic effort to save water bottles from underneath the deck. They were stored there until we realized that the evermoving sea was rough on them, and that some started taking in salt water. Tupac Yupanqui lost around 300 litres of potable water, but this is less than 10% of our supplies and we have plenty of water for the rest of our journey to Easter Island. We may have to refill our supplies there. This is less than ideal, as water is a precious resource on the island.
(2015-11-27) Gunvor Storaas is one of the true sailors onboard Rahiti Tane. She not only sails, the also teaches sailing at our favorite school: Fosen. In this authentic VHF conversation Gunvor discloses the hardships her students suffer, and what motivates a 16-year old girl to take up traditional wooden boats as a hobby. If you have the same urge, you should also head for the Hardanger Maritime Center.
The pictures above reveal a smiling, hard-working, and social person – one who can both prepare for a challenge, and be part of it. (Editor's disclosure: the views expressed in this paragraph may be influenced by the fact that Gunvor bribed him with bowl of delicious mango chutney while on board the Rahiti Tane.)
The fish was over three feet long, as slender as a snake, with dull black eyes and a long snout with a greedy jaw full of long sharp teeth ... Bengt too was woken at last by all the noise. He sat up drowsily in his sleeping bag and said solemnly: "No, fish like that doesn't exist" ... Bengt was not far wrong. It appeared later that we six sitting round the lamp in the bamboo cabin were the first men to have seen this fish alive.
The number of men who have seen this fish alive increased as of last night. Ola, who now tops the Tupac Yupanqui fishing charts, caught the beast during night watch. The fish has not been eaten. We may be hungry at times, but we're not that hungry. Yet.
In other news, we have taken stock of our fresh water supplies on Tupac Yupanqui. We have lost around 300 litres of potable water due to salt water intrusion. This, however, is less than 10% of our supplies and we have plenty of water for the rest of our journey to Easter Island. We may have to refill our supplies there. This is less than ideal, as water is a precious resource on the island. Can't we just collect rain water? Nope. We've had very little rain on the journey so far, mostly we have mist-like precipitation at night.
Despite instantaneous global communications and all of the impatience they have
spawned, many explorers still yearn to understand the slow mechanisms by which
ancient people created the original global economy. For them, it is no shock that we
of the modern world did not invent worldwide trade networks. They understand that we
have merely accelerated connections that were created by transoceanic explorers
thousands of years ago. The moment Kon-Tiki reached Polynesia successfully, all of
the world’s oceans, especially the Pacific, became archaeological seas, where people
could explore not just the present and the future, but the remote past of our
distant ancestors. Inside the global oceanic laboratory Thor Heyerdahl created,
Torgeir Higraff seeks nothing less than to understand the paths of human global
exploration. The sailor tacks against the wind, the drifter must of necessity
journey wherever the wind blows. One fights nature, one submits to it. The sailor is
heroic, the drifter, romantic. Even though the drifter often raises sail, he does so
only with the wind directly – or very nearly so – at his back. This is not in any way to
suggest that one can drift on a balsa raft knowing nothing about the rudiments of
sailing. It is merely to propose that we still know how to sail, in a systematic
way, because sailboats are still in use all over the world. On the other hand, it is
very likely that no one had attempted a transoceanic voyage on a raft for at least
several hundred years prior to the Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947. Now, after the
expeditions of Thor Heyerdahl and Torgeir Higraff, we are close to understanding how
such craft were navigated in prehistory.
Gratulerer med dagen, TH#2!
In other news, we are aware of reports of an earthquake in Peru. Here at sea, 800 nautical miles from the Peruvian coastline, we have not seen or felt anything unusual during the night watch. Thanks to those who reported, we appreciate your concern.
One of the favorite titles on our journey is Flåteferder i Kon-Tikis kjølvann (orignal title "Sea Drift: Rafting Adventures in the Wake of Kon-Tiki") written by J. P. Capelotti. It so happens that the author has sent a greeting to the Kon-Tiki2 Expedition. He writes;
This is a fascinating experiment and one I know will lead to new insights into the navigation of prehistoric routes between the Americas and Polynesia. Lykke til!
Thank you, perhaps we can provide a new chapter for the next edition?
It is Tuesday November 24, we are west of 90 W, and we have entered a new type of weather, after being pounded with strong southeasterlies, huge swells, and cloudy, humid conditions for more than two weeks. Today was sunny, calm and wonderful. So sunny in fact, that we pulled out yet another instrument from the Rahiti Tane toybox. In this case a "Microtop" to measure aerosol optical depth of the atmosphere over oceans. These instruments require a clear view of the sun, so ours had so far been collecting dust.
With the Microtop measurements we participate in a global network of 500 voluntary ships who contribute to monitor how the aerosol content of the atmosphere changes with space and time. The program is coordinated by NASA. Remember, these particles have an overall cooling effect on the atmosphere, but regionally they can have a huge impact on how temperature and even precipitation varies from place to place. So that's why it is so important that the voluntary ships keep collecting their data, year in and year out. And today, we did our little part :)
Thor Heyerdahl proved that ancient South Americans could drift across the Pacific on their rafts. It was a ethnological theory he worked on all his career. Is there more to be done? I think so, and this is what the Kon-Tiki2 Expedition is all about.
Kon-Tiki could not be steered, they could not set a course, keep it, nor define destination. The Kon-Tiki could never have reached a specific target, especially not Easter Island which is too far south for the prevailing currents. Still, Heyerdahl was the first to provide knowledge about balsarafts in modern times. He provoked the archaologists and ethnologists to dig into the prehistory of Polynesia, and inspired millions of people academically.
Heyerdahl proved that balsa rafts could carry people for months at sea. But ancient South Americans could do more: they could steer their rafts, and navigate anywhere in the Pacific. When wind and current push us on Rahiti Tane and Tupac Yupanqui north, we sail towards west and even southeast. How is this possible? Because we are not copying Kon-Tiki, we are copying the rafts from prehistory and early history based on archaeological and historical evidence Heyerdahl was not aware of in 1947. Coastal maritime civilizations in South America had sophisticated navigation skills. Like them, we use guara boards (also called dagger boards) to set course. On our rafts, we adjust he guara boards day and night and we document all major movements of the boards.
Recent studies have shown that South American DNA entered Easter Island between 1300AD and 1500AD. The Kon-Tiki2 Expedition shows how people could have travelled there, and how they sailed back. We also present how Polynesians could sail their rafts to South America. Noone have sailed between Easter Island and South America on a raft in modern times. We are well on our way on the first leg, but the biggest challenges are still ahead.
[Also check our science program with NTNU, NIVA and Kongsberg, and read more about why we do this]
(2015-11-24) Boris Romanov is the medical doctor of the Kon-Tiki2 Expedition. In this authetic VHF conversation, he discusses medical incidents on our rafts, appendectomies (not his favorite topic), and his fellow Russian doctor Yuri Senkevich. Yuri joined several of Thor Heyerdahl's expeditions and later became a well-respected TV personality in the USSR. Perhaps Boris also have a career in media? You heard him here first!
The pictures above reveal that Boris is both serious and humorous. This is a good combination for a raft doctor – he is serious enough for us to trust him with our lives, and he's humorous enough for his fellow crew on Rahiti Tane to enjoy his company for six weeks.
Finally, we see Rahiti Tane in a magnificent Pacific sunset.
In the last picture, you can see our raft from underneath, including the Kongsberg EK80 echo sounders, guara boards, and a fish!
Also, the Iridium GO unit sets up a small wifi network on each raft. Through this network, the crew can send and receive email. In picture 4, the Samsung Galaxy J2 – which comes with Opera Max – is used to connect from outside the cabin. In picture 5, you can see the small outside antenna of the Iridium GO. The Irididium satellites are 780 kilometres above us, and the bandwidth is limited (2.4kbs). However, small text-based messages get through and this is a much-appreciated communication channel with the outside world. Feel free to send us email and stop for a moment to think about the wonderful journey your bits will take!
When we asked what bird it was, the answer quickly came back: a Peruvian booby. It came back today, shown in the first picture.
We now need help with another puzzling bird, shown in picture 2, 3, and 4. It flies like a swallow, with quick turns close to the water. But it doesn't seem to fish. And in close-ups, like above, it looks more rounded than a swallow. What could it be? And what is it doing out here, 700 nautical miles from shore?
As an extra bonus, we add a picture of our security line, which has become a cozy home for some.
(2015-11-22) From above, the two Kon-Tiki2 rafts look spectacular set against the magnificant Pacific ocean. Taking off from the front deck is a challenge, and landing it amongst ropes, sails and sailors even more so. But we managed, this time.
Footage from our time in Lima is also available: clip1 clip2 clip3 clip4 clip5 clip6
(2014-11-22) Signe and Gunvor write: We receive quite a few questions about what we eat onboard the rafts. We went shopping about a week before departure and bought what then seemed like a ridiculous amount of food. After repacking and stowing it, however, it seemed to have shrunk. How much do 14 sailors eat during what may become 135 days? How much fish will we catch, and how many oranges, onions, carrots and other fruit and vegetables could we bring without them going bad? In addition to fresh foods we bought what we could find of tinned food, dried food, and quite a lot of rice, beans and lentils. We brought a variety of spices to be able to season things differently from day to day.
Every day starts off with oatmeal for breakfast, accompanied by fresh orange juice and a cup of coffee. We left Peru with 50 kg of oranges and now we're down to the last 10 kg – and dreading the day we'll run out. Lunch is usually rice with leftovers (if the night watch hasn't already eaten them), bread made from porridge and flour, or a fish if we're lucky enough to have caught one. The highlight of the day, however, is dinner. Following is a list of what we have had this past week:
We're quickly running out of fresh vegetables – we'll need to become more creative next week. So boys on Tupac, what did you have?
Rahiti Tane also reports a huge catch: master fisherman Esteban caught a 6 kg dorado, described as a blinking metallic wonderfish over VHF. Pictures will be posted in due course.
The adventure has finally started! These first weeks have been amazing. I've been tired from time to time because of seasickness and waking up at 4AM every night, but it has all been a experience. I have learned and seen lots of new stuff already! The first days at sea were very hectic, but now all the tasks are more routine and things run smoothly. I like the raft life and I am looking forward to spend the next weeks on this raft and to celebrate Christmas on Easter Island. To sail a raft and live on e a raft is fantastic!
(Editor's note: As can be seen in the pictures above, Jostein takes on many roles onboard: raft clown, swimmer, master fisherman, budding scientist, and photographer. As we get hungrier, we especially like him as fisherman :)
(2015-11-20) The front deck of the Tupac Yupanqui is alluring, especially in those rare moments when the sun comes out. We invite you to join the photographer, take stroll on our front deck!
(2015-11-19) Kari Skår Dahl is the captain of the Rahiti Tane raft. In this authetic VHF conversation, she discloses secrets from her raft (backbreaking exercises in the morning), from her work (food is a favorite topic among professionan rescuers), and a nearby Russian doctor. In the pictures, Captain Kari can be seen with her usual smile, and your starstruck correspondent. The two last pictures are take before leaving Callao. If you read Norwegian, you should also visit Kontikikari's blog.
In other news, the sun grazed us and our solar panels this morning. A bird was spotted from the front deck. We know the name in Norwegian (havsule), but couldn't think of the English term. Do let us know.
(2015-11-16) The Kon-Tiki2 expedition was greeted by one of the local residents of the South Pacific today. As can be seen in the video, a whale stopped by to take a deep breath alongside Tupac Yupanqui. Any marine biologsts out there who can help determine what kind of whale we met? Send us an email!
(We can also reveal that Ian Short is David's father. At yesterday's breakfast, the crew put bets on when the raft would reach Easter Island. David's bet was on December 19, which is the same as Ian's map indicated when first published today. A coincidence? We don't think so :-)
In other news, Jostein removed a layer of salt from the solar panels, and Andrey and Daved held a concert to mark that we have been at sea for a week.
We are 300 nautical miles from the Peruvian coast. We have 1750 nautical miles left to Easter Island (as the crow flies). Exercise for readers: when will we get here?
[The crew on Tupac Yupanqui, the other raft of the expedition, insists that there have been no contact with fishmongers, and that they have, in fact, caught one dorado themselves. Really.]
Below water, Rahiti Tane has a ferrybox
which measures temperature, oxygen levels, pH values, and various other parameters scientists are looking for. One part of the ferrybox is the CTD, which measures conductivty (i.e. salinity), temperature, and depth. The pictures show how the CTD hangs under the raft, which moves slowly through water. NIVA, the Norwegian Water Research Institute is providing us with equipment and support — both technical and emotional. In a year of El Nino, collecting accurate data in the South Pacific is especially worthwhile. The swimmer with camera is Jostein Heidenstrøm