Yeah, I don't think of it so much as a 'contest' in which one 'side' or the other gets 'beaten'. Historically, the Polynesians may have been crossing the Pacific before the Norsemen invaded
Greenland and the Americas, but I'm betting they used similar star following and wave pattern
navigation techniques.
It's more like what the anthropologists call convergent evolution - where different populations of the same species develop similar characteristics (or skills) in geographically separated areas.
It's not totally inconceivable that the Polynesians taught the Vikings to navigate, but I haven't seen too many dark-skinned navigators or warriors in
Vikings.
Perhaps that'll be in the next series.....????
Thor Heyerdal, eat your heart out.
[Tongue very firmly in cheek....]