 Team member John F. Haslett: John Haslett, 40, is the leader of the expedition. John has built four sailing rafts, voyaging on them for over two thousand miles in over 150 days at sea, between 1995 and 2000. John is a writer in Los Angeles, California....View Details |  Team member Cameron M. Smith: Cameron M. Smith, 38, is the expedition archaeologist. In 1998, he helped John build and sail Manteño, voyaging for 21 days from Ecuador to Colombia. Dr. Smith is a Fellow of the Explorers Club, a Life Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a...View Details |  Team member Alejandro Martinez: Alejandro Martinez, 37, is a veteran of The Manteño Expedition of 1998-99, with more than 70 days experience at sea on balsa rafts. During that expedition he worked as Quartermaster, and was charged with procuring and managing rations. He holds a Ba...View Details |  Team member Cesar Alarcon: Cesar is a veteran of The Manteño Expedition of 1998-99, with more than 70 days experience at sea on balsa rafts. During that voyage he assisted Alejandro Martinez in procuring and managing rations, and was instrumental in the construction of the ba...View Details |
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Expedition Objective(s):
Since 1995, John F. Haslett has been investigating the sailing abilities of precolumbian mariners of Ecuador by building replicas of their vessels, and sailing them. So far, he's built four rafts, and sailed on them for over 150 days. Today he is assisted by expedition archaeologist Cameron M. Smi...View Details
Interesting Aspects:
All other Pacific raft expeditions essentially copy the late Thor Heyderdahl's 1947 'Kon Tiki' expedition. While that expedition did demonstrate the seaworthiness of these vessels, it wasn't using the raft as the vessels were actually used. Archaeological evidence clearly shows that these rafts we...View Details
Equipment List:
* 60-foot, 20-ton balsa log raft
* over a mile of hemp rope
* over 1,000 square feet of cotton salcloth
* six crewmembers
* harpoons, nets, and other fishing gear
* rations for many months at sea
...View Details
See Also:
http://www.balsaraft.com/ Expedition Home Page
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