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Tangaroa Pacific Voyage Preparing the Raft  The Tangaroa crew ordered the balsa trees in November 2004. The trees were selected and marked in February 2005. The idea was to identify trees, which would be the most buoyant. Since female trees are lighter than male trees, native specialists would knock against the trunk to detect by sound which were the more porous trees. Then in January 2006, a cut was made around the circumference of the trunk to prevent the sap from rising. Two weeks later the trees were cut down and left with their branches and leaves attached to dry out. Finally, as shown above, Torgeir and workmen stripped the trunk of its bark and prepared the logs to be transported to Peru where the raft would be constructed. Photo by: Anders Berg/Tangaroa _____ Back to the Tangaroa article Back to Index AI 14.4
(Winter 2006) |
