The 1973 Las Balsas expedition

Exploration

Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...

 was the first (and so far only) multiple-raft crossing of the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 in recent history. It is the longest-known raft voyage in history.

The expedition was led by Spaniard Vital Alsar

Vital Alsar

Vital Alsar Ramirez was born on August 7, 1933, in "Calle Alta" in Santander, Cantabria, Spain.His entire life has been linked to nature and the sea. He became professor of economics, although he never acted as such....

 who, in 1970, led the La Balsa

La Balsa

La Balsa was the name of a 1970 expedition led by Spaniard Vital Alsar to sail a Balsa raft from South America to Australia across the Pacific Ocean....

 expedition, only on that occasion with one raft and three companions. The crossing was successful and, at the time, the longest raft voyage in history, until eclipsed in 1973 by Las Balsas.

The purpose of the 1973 expedition was three-fold - (1) to prove that the success of 1970 was no accident, (2) to test different currents in the sea, which Alsar maintained ancient mariners knew as modern humans know road maps, and (3) to show that the original expeditions, directed perhaps toward trade or colonisation, may have consisted of small fleets of balsa rafts.

The expedition consisted of three rafts, twelve sailors and three cats.