Thor Heyerdahl proved to be highly manoeuvrable, and fish congregated between the nine balsa logs in such numbers that ancient sailors could have possibly relied on fish for hydration in the absence of other sources of fresh water. Other rafts have repeated the voyage, inspired by "Kon-Tiki". Heyerdahl's book about "" has been translated into 70 languages. The documentary film of the expedition entitled "Kon-Tiki" won an Academy Award in 1951. A dramatised version was released in 2012, also called "Kon-Tiki", and was nominated for both the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for
Erik Hesselberg Hamburg, Germany. He stayed in Germany when World War II began, so he could not return to Norway and started working as a decorator in Braunschweig. In 1945, he and his German-born wife, Liselotte (Liss) Güldner, relocated to Lillehammer, Norway. In 1947, Hesselberg lived in the village of Borre and worked as a painter. Thor Heyerdahl approached him and invited to become a navigator on the Kon-Tiki expedition. During the trip, he worked as an astronavigator and cartographer as he was the only professional sailor. He painted the large Kon-Tiki figure on the raft's main sail. Also, he drew sketches,