The vinta is a traditional outrigger boat from the Philippine island of Mindanao. The boats are made by Sama-Bajau, Tausug and Yakan peoples living in the Sulu Archipelago, Zamboanga peninsula, and southern Mindanao. Vinta are characterized by their colorful rectangular lug sails (bukay) and bifurcated prows and sterns, which resemble the gaping mouth of a crocodile. Vinta are used as fishing vessels, cargo ships, and houseboats. Smaller undecorated versions of the vinta used for fishing are known as tondaan.
A Sama-Bajau fishing vinta in Zamboanga with the characteristic colorful sails (c.1923)
A small Sama-Bajau tondaan with sails deployed (c.1904)
Two large Moro vinta from Mindanao in the houseboat (palau) configuration (c.1920)
Detail of okil carvings on a vinta stern (c.1920)
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 (catamarans), to single-outrigger vessels prevalent in the Pacific Islands and Madagascar, to the double-outrigger vessels (trimarans) 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.
Single-outrigger canoes from Polynesia
A double-outrigger canoe from the Philippines
Model of a Fijian drua, an example of a double-hull proa
17th-century depiction of a Spanish-built joangan, a very large double-outrigger warship