Fisherman in small sailboat near Kuta Beach

A Balinese man wearing a white baseball cap brings his small wooden fishing boat towards shore at Kuta. The boat, which has a single red, green, blue, and yellow striped triangular sail, is of a traditional design. An outrigger, basically a long beam of wood attached to the right of the boat and set parallel to sea level, keeps such small craft from capsizing. A rear rudder steers the boat. Boats of similar design, although sometimes much larger, allowed early Austronesian (Malay-Polynesian) peoples to sail great distances across the Pacific Ocean thousands of years before engines were introduced. Like some Indonesians today, they relied on their local knowledge of celestial navigation as well as wind and surf patterns.