The Raftsmen

Last night I had the opportunity to watch “The Raftsmen” in the Ocean Film Festival.The film maker is Chadden Hunter who was on hand for a Q&A.

He came to the story on a rainy afternoon trying to entertain his toddlers at the Ballina Maritime Museum. His wife came across a reference to this and urged him to look at it further and make a film about it.

Dr Chadden Hunter is a wildlife biologist and filmmaker from north Queensland. After completing a PhD on gelada baboons in Ethiopia, Chadden worked with National Geographic, PBS and Discovery Channel, filming everything from tribal ceremonies in Africa to snow leopards in Pakistan. He talked to us about the challenges of this project.

He looked into it first to see if he could secure the original 16 mm footage made during the sail and once he secured them ( they were remarkably in very good condition ) he then went about contacting some of the survivors to hear their account of the crossing.

The aim was to cross the world’s largest ocean on three handmade wooden rafts with only the stars and the sun to guide them. These rafts were replicas of the ones used by South American natives for centuries before Spanish explorers arrived in 1526.They were made of balsa wood without the use of any nails or metal. They set off on the 27th of May 1973.

Who were they ? Well, a very charismatic leader called Vital Alsar – probably one of the greatest navigators the world has ever seen and a motley crew of 11 others. most of whom had no previous experience of being on the seas. They battled storms and hardships.They lost sight of one of the rafts only to find it later. They survived six months on a epic journey which the world simply has not heard about. You have all heard about Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon Tiki but have you heard of this journey ? I am sure most of you have not. They sailed from South America to Australia…with kittens on board and a couple of monkeys. Curious about what happened ? Here are ways you can access this remarkable film.

This is their incredible story and you can access it in : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_YBmWcggR4