"When the storm rushed up over the horizon and gathered about us for the first time, strained anticipation and anxiety were discernible in our looks." In this quote, Heyerdahl is describing the fear that he and his crew felt when their first storm arose at sea. The Kon-Tiki had been sailing for a few months at that point and they were just facing their first storm. More storms were to follow along with the impact of the storms on the Kon-Tiki. The storms had left the ropes on the raft stretched out and weak. This allowed for much more movement of the balsa logs, which could result in one of the crew members slipping between the logs and being crushed by them. During the storms, the crew tried to keep their raft in tact; however, Herman accidentally fell overboard while trying to save a sleeping bag. This was frightening because the strong waves made swimming back to the raft nearly impossible and made throwing a life-preserver completely impossible. Knaut swam into the sea with a life-preserver and helped Herman swim back to the Kon-Tiki. This experience was frightening for the crew, but it also reminded them to be cautious.
The events that took place during this section can teach us lessons in our own lives. No matter what we pursue in our lives, struggle is inevitable apparent by the crew facing the storms. We have to fight through this struggle in order to achieve our goals as shown by the crew keeping the raft in tact. And, no matter how long something "goes right", something can still "go wrong" as demonstrated by Herman falling overboard.
"And what happened in the new few second took a much shorter time than it takes to tell it." Here Heyerdahl is
foreshadowing that Herman was about to fall overboard.
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