39-532: Between 1966 and 1973, Spanish explorer Vital Alsar led three expeditions to cross the Pacific Ocean by raft – La Pacífica in 1966, La Balsa in 1970 and Las Balsas in 1973. Travelling from Ecuador , South America , to Australia , the first expedition failed, but the second and third succeeded, both setting the record for the longest known raft voyages in history – 8,600 miles (13,800 km) and 9,000 miles (14,000 km) respectively. The aim of
78-456: A hardwood despite the wood itself being very soft; it is the softest commercial hardwood and is widely used because of its light weight. Balsa trees grow extremely fast, often up to 27 metres in 10–15 years, and do not usually live beyond 30 to 40 years. They are often cultivated in dense patches, with Ecuador supplying 95% or more of the commercial balsa. The wood from these trees is highly valuable due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, which
117-518: A coarse, open grain . The density of dry balsa wood ranges from 40 to 475 kg/m , with a typical density around 160 kg/m . Balsa is the softest wood ever measured using the Janka hardness test (22 to 167 lbf ). The wood of the living tree has large cells that are filled with water. This gives the wood a spongy texture. It also makes the wood of the living tree not much lighter than water and barely able to float . For commercial production,
156-572: A month after the first voyage, original in La Balsa (1970), crew member Gabriel Salas was invited to join the Las Balsas crew. The crew was made of several nationalities: The rafts were named "Guayaquil" for the point of departure, "Mooloolaba" for the intended point of arrival in Australia, and "Aztlán" for Mexico, the place where the expedition was organized. These rafts were replicas of
195-711: A particularly violent storm lasting eight days. In order to avoid the rafts being damaged by the surf during landing, the expedition accepted the offer of a tow by HMAS Labuan as they approached the coast. While under tow, a storm hit, and five miles from the shore it was decided for safety reasons to release Guayaquil, its crew being taken aboard the Navy ship. The remaining two rafts were then landed in Ballina, New South Wales . They arrived in Ballina on 21 November 1973. After 9,000 miles (14,000 km) and 179 days at sea
234-414: A simple raft, La Pacífica , intended to cover the route between Ecuador and Australia. This journey was cut short by a severe teredo worm attack in the wood of his raft. The raft sank after 143 days of navigation being rescued by a German ship. The second raft, La Balsa (Spanish for The Raft), featured a balsa wood and hemp rope built structure, to which was attached two hardwood masts, to support
273-636: A square canvas sail. In contrast to the oar used for steering on Kon-Tiki, the La Balsa featured a hardwood moving keelboard (known as Guaras in Ecuador) which allowed it to be actively sailed toward favourable currents, rather than drifting. The voyage was to be from Guayaquil in Ecuador. Alsar had recruited Marc Modena, a Frenchman, and Norman Tetreault, a Canadian, and with work already begun, they were later joined by Chilean student Gabriel Salas. The crew
312-519: A third voyage, a circular navigation of the Pacific, from South America to the Polynesian islands and back. Ultimately however, the next voyage was planned to repeat the original crossing, but this time with three rafts – in an attempt to show that early civilizations could have purposefully navigated in large numbers and with cargo, on fleets of rafts of 10 or even a 100 strong. The Las Balsas voyage
351-404: Is a pioneer plant , which establishes itself in clearings in forests, either man-made or where trees have fallen, or in abandoned agricultural fields. It grows extremely rapidly, up to 27 metres (89 ft) in 10–15 years. The speed of growth accounts for the lightness of the wood, which has a lower density than cork . Trees generally do not live beyond 30 to 40 years. Flowers are produced from
390-408: Is achieved through a kiln-drying process that leaves the wood's cells hollow and empty. Balsa wood is popular for light, stiff structures in model bridge tests, model buildings, and construction of model aircraft. It is also used in the manufacturing of wooden crankbaits for fishing, makeshift pens for calligraphy, composites, surfboards, boats, "breakaway" props for theatre and television, and even in
429-411: Is also used in laminates together with glass-reinforced plastic ( fiberglass ) for making high-quality balsa surfboards and for the decks and topsides of many types of boats , especially pleasure craft less than 30 m in length. On a boat, the balsa core is usually end-grain balsa, which is much more resistant to compression than if the soft balsa wood were laid lengthwise. More than 90% of
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#1732780541569468-542: Is also valued as a component of full-sized light wooden aeroplanes , most notably the World War II de Havilland Mosquito . Balsa is used to make wooden crankbaits for fishing, especially Rapala lures. Sticks of dried balsa are useful as makeshift pens for calligraphy when commercial metal nibs of the desired width are not available. Balsa wood is often selected as a core material in composites . Because O. pyramidale grows quickly and tolerates poor soils it
507-433: Is low in density but high in specific strength (strength per weight), balsa is a very popular material for light, stiff structures in model bridge tests , model buildings, and construction of model aircraft ; all grades are usable for airworthy control line and radio-controlled aircraft varieties of the aeromodeling sports, with the lightest "contest grades" especially valuable for free-flight model aircraft . However, it
546-435: Is lower in cost per performance compared to polymer foams like EPS while having better tensile strength than typical foams. For example, the blades of wind turbines are commonly constructed of many balsa plywood cores and internal spars covered with resin infused cloth on both sides. In table tennis rackets, a balsa layer is typically sandwiched between two pieces of thin plywood made from other species of wood. Balsa wood
585-600: The Chevrolet Corvette had floor pans composed of balsa sandwiched between sheets of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic . Norwegian scientist and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl , convinced that early contact between the peoples of South America and Polynesia was possible, built the raft Kon Tiki from balsa logs, and upon it his crew and he sailed the Pacific Ocean from Peru to the Polynesian Tuamotu Archipelago in 1947. However,
624-473: The Kon Tiki logs were not seasoned and owed much of their (rather slight) buoyancy to the fact that their sap was of lower density than sea water. This serendipitously may have saved the expedition, because it prevented the seawater from waterlogging the wood and sinking the raft. Balsa wood is also a popular wood type used in the arts of whittling , and surfing . In the making of picture frames, balsa
663-513: The balsa tree , is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus Ochroma . The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking , due to its softness and its high strength compared to its low density. The name balsa is the Spanish word for "raft." A deciduous angiosperm , Ochroma pyramidale can grow up to 30 m tall, and is classified as
702-431: The kinkajou and the olingo , may be the primary pollinators. It is evergreen or dry-season deciduous , with large 30 to 40 centimetres (12 to 16 in), weakly palmately lobed leaves. Being a deciduous angiosperm , balsa is classified as a hardwood despite the wood itself being very soft; it is the softest commercial hardwood. Ecuador supplies 70% or more of commercial balsa. In recent years, about 60% of
741-614: The Kon-Tiki. The crew have expressed regret at this situation, speculating that if their craft had ended up in a museum in a large city like Oslo (location of the Kon-Tiki), more would remember it, while at the same time also not wishing the surviving raft to be moved from its landing location. The museum curator agrees, but also put it down to the Australian tendency toward understatement. A 40th anniversary celebration has occurred at
780-418: The Polynesian islands. Like the Kon-Tiki expedition, the aim was to see if a raft made from the materials available in the 16th century in pre-Columbian South America, when such vessels had been observed by Spanish sailors, could navigate the journey. Having been surprised by the seaworthiness of La Balsa, being confident they could have gone on to reach Africa had they wished, the crew initially made plans for
819-490: The balsa has been plantation -grown in densely packed patches of around 1000 trees per hectare (compared to about two to three per hectare in nature). The trees are harvested after six to ten years of growth in Ecuador. The remaining volume of balsa is harvested from plantations in Papua New Guinea; the climate is different, therefore harvesting occurs at 4-5 years of age. Balsa lumber is very soft and light, with
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#1732780541569858-480: The crews were given a heroes' welcome by the people of Ballina. All three rafts had managed to stay within sight of each other during most of the trip. One had become damaged and separated in a storm, and with only radio communication from the two to the one, the group didn't regain visible contact until a week later. Left to drift, the remains of Guayaquil were eventually found by fishermen close to Newcastle . They were later burned as scrap. A documentary chronicling
897-735: The expedition was subsequently produced, titled The Pacific Challenge . The film is distributed by the Ballina Maritime Museum. Las Balsas was the subject of an 11-minute radio documentary as part of the Witness series on the BBC 's World Service in January 2014, which featured interviews from Mike Fitzgibbons and Gabriel Salas. The Mooloolaba and Aztlán were moored on the Richmond River , although they began to break apart as
936-623: The expeditions was to prove that the Pacific Islands could have been populated by migrations from South America in the centuries before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived. Alsar maintained that ancient mariners knew the Pacific currents and winds as well as modern humans know road maps. It was hoped to double the distance achieved by the Kon-Tiki expedition, the 1947 raft crossing by Thor Heyerdahl from South America to
975-570: The floor pans of the Chevrolet Corvette . Balsa wood played a historical role in Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition where it was used to build the raft. Balsa wood is also popular in arts such as whittling, and in the making of baroque-style picture frames due to its ease of shaping. A member of the mallow family, Ochroma pyramidale is native from southern Mexico to southern Brazil, but can now be found in many other countries (Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Thailand, Solomon Islands). It
1014-585: The hemp ropes disintegrated. As crew and supporters returning to re-tie them, it was discovered that Mooloolaba had largely disintegrated, with her mast, sail and many of her logs having floated away. the Aztlán was secured, and given a place on dry land a few months later by the Ballina Shire Council . A few years later, the Council built a museum next to their Information Centre. Installed inside
1053-590: The hot weather each man had to drink a pint of sea water each day to compensate for the lack of salt from dehydration . Each raft had a short range radio for use in emergency and enabled them to contact land every third day. On 27 May 1973, setting sail from Guayaquil, Ecuador they commenced their drift across the Pacific Ocean via the Galapagos Islands , The Society Islands, The Cook Islands , Tonga , south of New Caledonia , and then saw land close to Mooloolaba, Queensland . Near Tonga they had to endure
1092-454: The longest-known raft voyage in history. It is the only known multi-raft crossing of the Pacific to date. The expedition consisted of three rafts, twelve sailors and three cats. Each raft had four crewmen and one cat. Alsar required the prospective crew members to be able to navigate and be able to speak three languages. Except for the captains, the nine remaining members of the expedition changed rafts periodically. Having returned to Chile
1131-794: The museum in November 2013. It saw some members of the crew reunited for the first time since the voyage. Vital Alsar Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 203548212 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:55:41 GMT Ochroma pyramidale Bombax pyramidale Cav. ex Lam. Ochroma bicolor Rowlee Ochroma concolor Rowlee Ochroma lagopus Sw. Ochroma obtusum Rowlee Ochroma pyramidale , commonly known as
1170-427: The naval base at Guayaquil for construction. The rafts are entirely built from wood with wooden pegs and sisal ropes for rigging, in its construction, it did not use any metallic elements such as cables or nails. They were not capable of turning around when being carried by currents. They could maneuver with the use of centerboards : short planks between the logs called "guayas". The construction proved very stable on
1209-447: The ones used by South American natives for centuries before Spanish explorers arrived in 1526. The rafts were each 46 feet (14 m) long and 18 feet (5.5 m) wide. They were constructed with seven balsa wood logs which were cut down in the jungles of Ecuador from female trees during the full Moon when the sap content was at its optimum thus ensuring its resistance to saturation by sea water. They were then floated down river to
Vital Alsar Pacific raft expeditions - Misplaced Pages Continue
1248-457: The third year onwards, typically at the end of the rainy season when few other trees are in flower. The large flowers open in the late afternoon and remain open overnight. Each may contain a pool of nectar up to 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) deep. Daytime pollinators include capuchin monkeys . However, most pollination occurs at night. The main pollinators were once thought to be bats, but recent evidence suggests that two nocturnal arboreal mammals,
1287-408: The water, with very little roll in sea conditions. They carried enough water for a few weeks and after that they had to rely on rain water, collected in buckets. Clearing the logs of seaweed and slime became one of the essential daily tasks. The rafts were stocked with rice , beans and some preserves, but the main food source was seafood caught on the way – tuna, mahi-mahi and small pilot fish. Fish
1326-461: The wood is kiln-dried for about two weeks, leaving the cells hollow and empty. The large volume-to-surface ratio of the resulting thin-walled, empty cells gives the dried wood a large strength-to-weight ratio because the cells are mostly air. Unlike naturally rotted wood, which soon disintegrates in the rainforests where balsa trees grow, the cell walls of kiln- seasoned balsa wood retain their strong structure of cellulose and lignin . Because it
1365-468: The world's Balsa wood volume is prepared into end grain panels for the composites industry, mostly used as structural cores in the wind turbine blades. Where strength, rigidity, durable and environmentally sustainable materials are sought after. Balsa is also used in the manufacture of "breakaway" wooden props such as tables and chairs that are designed to be broken as part of theatre, movie, and television productions. The fifth and sixth generations of
1404-477: Was a display raft, built from the best parts of the remaining two rafts. Also included was a memorabilia dedicated to aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith . Each year thousands of world travelers are able to see this exhibition and marvel at this exploit of twelve men. After initial attention, the voyages became largely forgotten, despite some in the media comparing it to the feats of early pioneers such as Charles Lindbergh or Edmund Hillary , in addition to that of
1443-403: Was abundant in the water surrounding the rafts, once a localised marine food chain had been established, with barnacles attached to the raft at the bottom of the chain. Twice the crew had to kill sharks, as they were scaring food away, while on another occasion one raft was pulled around as an unnoticed hammerhead shark took some bait on a line. The subject of food became a fixation for the crew. In
1482-565: Was also designed to prove those people who believed the success of the La Balsa voyage was a fluke. To help promote the Las Balsas expedition, Alsar got the prospective crew to build scale models of the rafts, which were then presented to prospective backers. Surrealist Salvador Dalí donated an original artwork for the sails, the sale of which later helped crew members recoup debts and pay for their return journeys. His first adventure took place in 1966. The day after his wedding, he boarded
1521-608: Was also joined by a stowaway cat named Minet, whom they called the "fifth crew member." The La Balsa expedition lasted 160 days, starting in Ecuador on May 29, 1970, and ended at Mooloolaba in Australia on November 5, 1970. The 8,600 mile (13,800 km), voyage was, at the time, the longest in known history. Following the expedition, the raft was taken on a road tour of Australia, being displayed in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, before being shipped to Spain. The 1973 Las Balsas expedition used three rafts, and became
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