[EdwardDiego]

I think Heyerdahl's issue is that he approached it as South Americans travelling to Polynesia, instead of some of the most capable navigators the world has seen travelling to South America.

Some claim it was racism, but IIRC, he based it on prevailing winds and currents, which are west to east... except for during an ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation) event, which were poorly understood, or even widely known of, at the time of Kontiki.

And there's some evidence of correlation between Polynesian westward migration, and ENSO events.