An attempt to sail a ship made almost entirely out of reeds across the Pacific Ocean has come to an end in Tahiti. The boat, which is called the Viracocha III, set sail from Arica, Chile back in March with the intention of continuing all the way to Australia. But a massive storm caused damage to the vessel, bringing a premature end to the journey, which was four year in the planning.
The goal behind the Viracocha Expedition was to demonstrate once again that humans could have sailed across the Pacific from South America using rafts or boats made from simple materials found on that continent. The ambitious goal for the eight-person crew had always been to complete a full crossing of the ocean, covering some 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 km/11,507 miles) over a six month period. Unfortunately, the voyage faced a number of challenges along the way, which included slower progress that anticipated. Still, the Viracocha III and her crew were making headway towards their goal of reaching the Australian coast before disaster struck.
According to ExWeb, the Viracocha III travels for 86 days without spotting land before reaching Tatakoto, an isolated atoll that is a part of the Tuamotu Islands in the South Pacific. Once there, the plan was to drop off a few crew members who had other commitments requiring them to return home early, while also stopping to make some repairs to the raft itself. Crossing the open ocean had inflicted some minor damage to the vessel, which couldn't be repaired while at sea.
While sailing in that part of the world however, a massive storm struck the area and apparently continued on for 19 days. Over that time, the Viracocha III was en route to Tahiti, where it hoped to make another stop before continuing on to Australia. The storm inflicted severe on the raft however, causing the crew to have to cut off part of the bow. Due to its structure and the reeds that make up the vessel, it was still able to stay afloat, but as the days passed it became clear that it was slowing down and becoming less seaworthy. Eventually, a passing ship came to the rescue of the crew, which had to abandon their ship at sea. They were safely delivered to Tahiti last week, but had to watch their dreams of a Pacific crossing come to an end as Viracocha drifted off alone.
This journey is reminiscent of Thor Heyerdal's famous Kon Tiki voyage, which took place back in 1947. The idea of sailing a vessel of ancient construction, design, and materials across the Pacific has proven that it was possible for humans to depart from South America and explore the ocean. Whether or not it actually happened remains open to conjecture, but it does seem that it was at least possible. I'm sure the crew of the Viracocha III are disappointed that they couldn't complete their entire voyage, but there are worse places than Tahiti to have it come to an end at.
