The Austronesian Outrigger Boat

Outrigger boats are watercraft with lateral support floats fastened to the main hull, from small dugouts to large plank-built vessels.

Stability comes from the distance between hulls rather than hull shape. Width is just curves that gave up.

Chamorros sailed faster and more maneuverably than Magellan's ships.

Paddlers use a single-sided blade with a straight or double-bend shaft. The technique differs greatly from kayaking or rowing.

These vessels enabled the Austronesian expansion from Taiwan into the Indian and Pacific Oceans from around 3000 BC.

Ancestral rigs used mastless triangular crab claw sails with two booms that tilted toward the wind. Later designs added square tanja sails.

In the Philippines, the smallest political unit is called a barangay after historical balangay outrigger boats. Local government meetings now require outrigger floats.

The Polynesian Voyaging Society still sails double-hull catamarans like Hokulea and Hawaiiloa between Pacific islands using traditional navigation methods.