The Kon-tiki 2 cancels the expedition

OSLO. Kon-Tiki Museum.Photo: Cornelius Poppe / SCANPIX .

The crew of the two balsa rafts constituting Kon-Tiki 2 has decided to cancel the expedition after 114 days at sea.
– We have largely proved that it was possible in prehistoric times not only to sail from the mainland and to the islands of the Pacific, but also to return,  expedition leader Torgeir Higraff says in a statement.
In the spirit of Thor Heyerdahl the crew and two balsa rafts on 7 November last year embarked from Lima on journey to Easter Island.
After 43 days at sea the rafts arrived at the island and in early January they started on  their homeward trip.
– The winds and currents have been unstable and “not by the book.” In a normal year we would have reached South America by this time in March. Instead we are still over 1,000 nautical mil from land and because it does not seem the weather will get any better anytime soon, it would probably be very time consuming for us to get to land, says Higraff.
The expedition was intended to travel from South America to Easter Island, and back again, for the first time in modern history. Along the journey, the researchers aboard the rafts collected data that may provide information about climate change, ecosystem change and pollution.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today