Outrigger Canoe

An outrigger canoe is a boat, ranging from a simple dugout hull to a large plank-built vessel, fitted with one or more lateral floats called outriggers lashed to the main hull for stability, either on one side, on both sides, or as a second full hull in the double-hulled catamaran form. Because the float rather than the hull shape supplies stability, the main hull can be built long, narrow and hydrodynamically efficient, letting the craft be paddled and sailed in rougher water than a single-hull canoe of similar size could handle. The type was developed by Austronesian-speaking peoples originating around Taiwan and is considered among the first true ocean-going ships, enabling the Austronesian expansion into the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans from around 3000 BC onward. Outrigger canoes remain traditional craft across island Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Madagascar, the Indian Ocean and, through cultural contact, East Africa and Sri Lanka.