 Haugland first met Thor Heyerdahl in 1944 at a paramilitary training camp in England.It was here that Haugland first heard of Heyerdahl's theories about Polynesian migration patterns, and his plans to cross the Pacific on a balsa wood raft.In 1947 Haugland was invited by Heyerdahl to join the Kon-Tiki expedition as a radio operator.