Kon-Tiki expedition was able to cross the Pacific Ocean on the balsa raft from Peru to Polynesia. A French seafarer, Éric de Bisschop, committed himself in a project he had had for some years: he built a Polynesian raft in order to cross the eastern Pacific Ocean from Tahiti to Chile (contrary to Thor Heyerdahl's crossing); the "Tahiti-Nui" left Papeete with a crew of five on November 8, 1956. When near the Juan Fernández Islands (Chile) in May 1957, the raft was in a very poor state and they asked for a towing, but it was damaged during the operation and had
Kon-Tiki (Scouting) Kon-Tiki (Scouting) Kon-Tiki refers to Scout and Guide raft-building competitions held by Scouts South Africa and Scouts Australia. Named after Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition of 1947, teams of Scouts and Guides age 11 to 17 compete to build and live on a raft for a weekend. Support crews compete in other events while the raft is afloat. The Cape Town competition is held at the Sea Scout Base on the banks of Zandvlei, and was first held in the early 1980s. The event starts on the Friday afternoon with teams arriving and starting construction of the raft. The building criteria