Outrigger boat
Outrigger boats are various watercraft featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull. They can range from small dugout canoes to large plank-built vessels. Outrigger boats can also vary in their configuration, from the ancestral double-hull configuration, to single-outrigger vessels prevalent in the Pacific Islands and Madagascar, to the double-outrigger vessels prevalent in Island Southeast Asia. They are traditionally fitted with Austronesian sails, like the crab claw sails and tanja sails, but in modern times are often fitted with petrol engines.
Unlike a single-hulled vessel, an outrigger or double-hull vessel generates stability as a result of the distance between its hulls rather than due to the shape of each individual hull. As such, the hulls of outrigger or double-hull boats are typically longer, narrower and more hydrodynamically efficient than those of single-hull vessels. Compared to other types of canoes, smaller outrigger canoes can be quite fast, yet are also capable of being paddled and sailed in rougher water. This paddling technique, however, differs greatly from kayaking or rowing. The paddle, or blade, used by the paddler is single sided, with either a straight or a double-bend shaft.
These vessels were the first true ocean-going ships, and are an important part of the Austronesian heritage. They were the vessels that enabled the Austronesian expansion from Taiwan into the islands of both the Indian and Pacific Ocean from around 3000 BC. They comprise the bulk of traditional boats in Island Southeast Asia, Island Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar. They have spread to other cultures Austronesians came into contact with, notably in Sri Lanka and southern India as well as in the coast of East Africa. In modern times, outrigger vessels are used in the sport of sailing. Catamaran and trimaran configurations are also widely used for high speed craft.
History
Outrigger boats were originally developed by the Austronesian-speaking peoples of the islands of Southeast Asia for sea travel. It is believed that the use of outriggers may have been initially caused by the need for stability on small watercraft after the invention of crab claw sails some time around 1500 BCE.Outrigger boats were essential in the transportation of Austronesians both eastward to Polynesia and New Zealand and westward across the Indian Ocean as far as Madagascar during the Austronesian migration period. The Austronesian peoples continue to be the primary users of the outrigger boats.
The simplest form of all ancestral Austronesian boats had five parts. The bottom part consists of single piece of hollowed-out log. At the sides were two planks, and two horseshoe-shaped wood pieces formed the prow and stern. These were "sewn" together with dowels and lashings. They had no central rudders but were instead steered using an oar on one side. The ancestral rig was the mastless triangular crab claw sail which had two booms that could be tilted to the wind. These were built in the double-canoe configuration or had a single outrigger on the windward side. In Island Southeast Asia, these developed into double outriggers on each side that provided greater stability. The triangular crab claw sails also later developed into square or rectangular tanja sails, which like crab claw sails, had booms spanning the upper and lower edges. Fixed masts also developed later in both Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Early researchers like Heine-Geldern and Hornell once believed that catamarans evolved from outrigger boats, but modern authors specializing in Austronesian cultures like Doran and Mahdi now believe it to be the opposite.
Two canoes bound together developed directly from minimal raft technologies of two logs tied together. Over time, the double-hulled canoe form developed into the asymmetric double canoe, where one hull is smaller than the other. Eventually the smaller hull became the prototype outrigger, giving way to the single outrigger canoe, which diverged into the reversible single outrigger canoe in Oceania. Finally, the single outrigger types developed into the double outrigger canoe.
File:Borobudur - Divyavadana - 086 N, The Landing of Hiru and foundation of Hiruka .jpg|thumb|left|A bas relief of Borobudur ship, a double outrigger vessel depicted in 8th century Borobudur temple, Java, Indonesia.
This would also explain why older Austronesian populations in Island Southeast Asia tend to favor double outrigger boats, as it keeps the boats stable when tacking. But they still have small regions where catamarans and single-outrigger boats are still used. In contrast, more distant outlying descendant populations in Micronesia, Polynesia, Madagascar, and the Comoros retained the double-hull and the single outrigger boat types, for the technology of double outriggers never reached them. To deal with the problem of the instability of the boat when the outrigger faces leeward when tacking, they instead developed the shunting technique in sailing, in conjunction with reversible single-outriggers.
File:Joangan, or the Spanish-built Joanga.jpg|thumb|17th-century depiction of a Spanish-owned karakoa, a very large Visayan double-outrigger warship
When Magellan's ships first encountered the Chamorros of the Mariana Islands in 1521, Antonio Pigafetta recorded that the Chamorros' sailboats far surpassed Magellan's in speed and maneuverability. Similarly, the Spanish priest Francisco Combés, describing the large karakoa outrigger warships of the Visayan Islands in the Philippines, remarked:
Outrigger fishing canoes are also used among certain non-Austronesian groups, such as the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, where they are known as oruwa, as well as among some groups in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They can also be found in East Africa.
The acquisition of the catamaran and outrigger boat technology by the non-Austronesian peoples in Sri Lanka and southern India is the result of very early Austronesian contact with the region, including the Maldives and Laccadive Islands. This is estimated to have occurred around 1000 to 600 BCE and onwards. This may have possibly included limited colonization that have since been assimilated. This is still evident in Sri Lankan and South Indian languages. For example, Tamil paṭavu, Telugu paḍava, and Kannada paḍahu, all meaning "ship", are all derived from Proto-Hesperonesian *padaw, "sailboat", with Austronesian cognates like Javanese perahu, Kadazan padau, Maranao padaw, Cebuano paráw, Samoan folau, Hawaiian halau, and Māori wharau.
File:Polynesian canoe replica 1.jpg|thumb|Hawaiiloa, a double-hull sailing canoe built as a replica of Polynesian voyaging canoes
The technology has persisted into the modern age. Outrigger boats can be quite large fishing or transport vessels. In the Philippines, outrigger boats are often fitted with petrol engines. The links between seafaring and outrigger boats in the Philippines extend through to political life, in which the smallest political unit in the country is still called "barangay" after the historical balangay outrigger boats used in the original migrations of the first Austronesian peoples across the archipelago and beyond. The Polynesian Voyaging Society has two double-hull sailing catamarans, Hokulea and Hawaiiloa, and sails them between various islands in the Pacific using traditional Polynesian navigation methods without instruments. The Hikianalia and Alingano Maisu are other extant double-hulled voyaging canoes.
Terminology and linguistics
The German linguist Otto Dempwolff originally reconstructed the Proto-Austronesian word for "boat" as *waŋkaŋ, and included the reflexes for both *baŋkaʔ and *waŋkaʔ as its descendants. However modern linguists like Robert Blust generally reject this. Mahdi instead reconstructs four words for "boat" in the Austronesian languages, all ultimately derived from the monosyllabic protoforms *Cu and *baŋ. They are:Instead of being cognates, the protoforms *baŋkaʔ and *waŋkaʔ are believed to be doublets. The protoforms *qabaŋ and *baŋkaʔ are composites with a common precursor, with the *qa- and -*ka positioned differently. Only *qaCu and *qabaŋ can be traced back to Proto-Austronesian, with the rest being later developments.
The outrigger float is called the ama in many Polynesian languages, realisations of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *saRman 'outrigger float'. Similar terms also exist in other Malayo-Polynesian languages, such as Pohnpeian dahm, Yapese thaam, Ambonese Malay semang, all meaning 'outrigger float', as well as Chamorro sakman meaning ' large canoe.' The outrigger boom—spars connecting the ama to the main hull —are called iako in Hawaiian and kiato in Māori, ultimately from Proto-Oceanic *kiajo or its doublet *kayajo both meaning 'outrigger boom'. In Philippine languages, the outrigger floats are called katig or kate, from Proto-Philippine *katiR.
Types
Double-outrigger boats are more prevalent in Southeast Asia, though single-outriggers and catamarans also exist. They have two outrigger floats connected to spars lashed across a single hull. They range in size from small vessels like the jukung, vinta, and the paraw; to medium-sized trading and fishing vessels like the balangay and basnigan; to very large warships like the karakoa and kora kora. In Philippine vessels, additional booms called batangan are usually added across the outrigger spars, in between the outrigger floats and the main hull. In modern terminology, especially in leisure or sport boating, double-outrigger ships are usually termed trimaran or triple-hull ships.An unusual type of double-outrigger boat design, preserved in scale models in the Pitt Rivers Museum, forms a triangle shape. The front ends of the outriggers are attached directly to the hull, while the rear ends are splayed out. These boats were small and used exclusively as passenger ferries in the Pasig River of the Philippines.
Catamarans and single-outrigger canoes are the traditional configurations in Polynesia, Micronesia, and Madagascar. In the Pacific Islands, a single outrigger float is called an ama. It is connected to the main hull by spars called iako, iato, or kiato. The ama, which is usually rigged on the left side, provides stability. The paddlers need to be careful to avoid leaning too far on the opposite side of the ama, as that may cause the canoe to capsize. Double-outrigger configurations, a later innovation from Southeast Asian Austronesians, never reached Oceania.
File:Pililla,Rizaljf6756 06.JPG|thumb|A single-outrigger motorized armadahan from Laguna de Bay, Philippines
Single-outrigger dugout canoes also exist in the Philippines. Examples include canoes from Laguna de Bay, as well as boats from Lake Bulusan and Lake Buhi of the Bicol Region. A notable example is the armadahan of Laguna de Bay, which were dugouts typically long and wide. They were equipped with two masts. The single outrigger float on the starboard side was either two bamboo poles lashed together or a flattened elongated beam. It also featured a counter-balance beam projecting off the port side known as the paltek. In modern times, these types of boats are usually motorized or paddled. And the single outrigger is used to provide lateral stability, while still allowing fishermen to work with fishing nets. They were more widespread in the Philippines in the past, with a specimen in the University of Southampton from Manila Bay collected in the 1940s for example. But they have largely disappeared in modern times, partly due to the scarcity of suitable timber and partly due to the relative cheapness of fiberglass boats.