### L755 more stable technology for ships than canoe > a canoe sailing in waves is far more stable if it becomes a platform rather than a single hull. Two ready solutions must have come into play soon after people plied the waters off Sunda: outriggers and double hulls. Of the two, the double-hulled canoe is the most practical craft for offshore sailing, on account of both its load capacity and its sailing qualities. Unfortunately, the last double-hulled canoes disappeared at least a century ago, leaving us with nothing but drawings by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists, notably of elaborate Tahitian war canoes, so we know little about these craft. We know from modern experiments that double-hulled canoes were capable of sailing at a reasonably close angle to the wind, perhaps as close as sixty degrees. This would have made passages against prevailing trade winds entirely practicable, if relatively slow. Thus, one always had the guarantee of being able to return by turning in front of the wind. #xref crossref [[Beyond the Blue Horizon by Brian Fagan#L581 increasing stability led to possibility of sails]] - [[Beyond the Blue Horizon by Brian Fagan#L755 more stable technology for ships than canoe|View in Vault]]