Riding the Pacific
In
1947, five Norwegians and a Swede cast themselves 4,300 miles into the world’s
largest, stormiest ocean on a raft of wood and hemp to prove a scorned
ethnographic theory. Never mind about the theory; their resulting adventure
would inspire generations.
For
101 days the Kon-Tiki risked storms, sharks, and ill-advised dingy
excursions to make a point. Not about whether ancient Peruvians settled in
Polynesia many centuries ago, as Kon-Tiki’s leader Thor Heyerdahl
believed, but about the nature of life and man’s place in the world.
