Outrigger canoe

The outrigger canoe is a type of canoe featuring one or more lateral support floats known as outriggers, which are fastened to one or both sides of the main hull. Smaller canoes often employ a single outrigger on the port side, while larger canoes may employ a single-outrigger, double-outrigger, or double-outrigger, or double-hull configuration (see also catamaran). The sailing canoes are an important part of the Polynesian heritage and are raced an sailed in Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa and by the Maori of New Zealand. They are also very popular in Puerto Rico.

Unlike a single-hulled canoe, an outrigger or double-hull canoe 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 canoes are typically longer, narrower and more hydrodynamically efficient than those of single-hull canoes. Compared to other types of canoes, 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 single paddle, an experienced paddler will only paddle on one side, using a technique such as a J-stroke to maintain heading and stability.

The outrigger float is called the ama in many Polynesian and Micronesian languages. The spars connecting the ama to the main hull (or the two hulls in a double-hull canoe) are called ʻiako in Hawaiian and kiato in Maori (with similar words in other Polynesian languages); in Micronesian languages, the term aka is used.

Outrigger - Powered vessels and sailboats

An outrigger describes any contraposing float rigging beyond the side (gunwale, /ˈɡʌnəl/) of a boat to improve the vessel's stability. If a single outrigger is used it is usually but not always windward. 

In an outrigger canoe and in sailboats such as the proa, an outrigger is a thin, long, solid, hull used to stabilize an inherently unstable main hull. The outrigger is positioned rigidly and parallel to the main hull so that the main hull is less likely to capsize. If only one outrigger is used on a vessel, its weight reduces the tendency to capsize in one direction and its buoyancy reduces the tendency in the other direction.

On a keelboat, "outrigger" refers to a variety of structures by which the running rigging (such as a sheet) may be attached outboard (outside the lateral limits) of the boat's hull. The Racing Rules of Sailing generally prohibit such outriggers, though they are explicitly permitted on specific classes, such as the IMOCA Open 60 used in several major offshore races. 

Fishing

In fishing from vessels, an outrigger is a pole or series of poles that allow boats to trawl more lines in the water without tangling and simulates a school of fish.

Rowing 

In a rowing boat or galley, an outrigger (or just rigger) is a triangular frame that holds the rowlock (into which the oar is slotted) away from the saxboard (gunwale for gig rowing) to optimize leverage. Wooden outriggers appear on the new trireme around the 7th or 6th centuries BC and later on Italian galleys around AD 1300 while Harry Clasper (1812-1870), a British professional rower, popularized the use of the modern metal version and the top rowing events accepted the physiological and ergonomic advantages so acceded to its use in competitions. Wing-riggers are made by some manufacturers of racing shells which are reinforced arcs or form a single projection akin to aircraft wings instead of conventional thin metal triangular structures. 

History 

Outrigger canoes were originally developed by the Austronesian-speaking peoples of the islands of Southeast Asia for sea travel. They were used to transport these peoples both eastward to Polynesia and New Zealand and westward across the Indian Ocean as far as Madagascar during the Austronesian migration period. While today they can be found in East Africa (e.g. the ungalawa of Tanzania), the Austronesian peoples (Filipino, Malay, Micronesian, Melanesian and Polynesians peoples) continue to be the primary users of the outrigger canoes. 

Outrigger fishing canoes are also used among certain non-Austronesian groups, such as the Sinhala in Sri Lanka, where they are known as oruwa, as well as among some groups in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The ethnological significance of this spread has been studied by James Hornell.

When Magellan's ships first encountered the Chamorros of the Mariana Islands in 1521, Anotonio Pigafetta recorded that the Chamorros' sailboats far surpassed Magellan's in speed and maneuverability. 

The Polynesian Voyaging Society has two double-hull sailing canoes, 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. 

The technology has persisted into the modern age. Outrigger canoes can be quite large fishing or transport vessels. In the Philippines, outrigger canoes (called bangka, parao or balanghai) are often fitted with petrol engines. The links between seafaring and outrigger canoes in the Philipines extend through to political life, in which the smallest political unit in the country is still called Barangay after the historical Balangay outrigger proas used in the original migrations of the first Austronesian peoples across the archipelago and beyond.