Tanja sail

The Mandar people call it sombal tanjaq because when the wind blows the lower part of the sail (peloang) would "mattanjaq" (lit.

The lower part of two of the bamboo poles of the mast assembly have holes that are aligned and slotted across a piece of timber, functioning as a hinge.

[14] The sail can be rotated around the mast (lessening the need for steering with the rudders) and tilted to move the center of pull forward or aft.

[11] The 3rd century book "Strange Things of the South" (南州異物志) by Wan Chen (萬震) describes large ships which originates from K'un-lun (Southern country, either Java or Sumatra).

This oblique rig, which permits the sails to receive from one another the breath of the wind, obviates the anxiety attendant upon having high masts.

Thus these ships sail without avoiding strong winds and dashing waves, by the aid of which they can make great speed.— Wan Chen, Nánzhōu Yìwùzhì (Strange Things of the South)[15]: 207 [16]: 262 Most Southeast Asian and Austronesian vessels used the tanja sail.

This type of sail may have brought Austronesian sailors as far as West Africa sometime in the 1st millennium CE,[17]: 41  with its feasibility proved by an expedition carried out by a replica ship using such sail in 2003,[17]: 31–32  and there is probability these sailors reached the New World as early as 1420 CE.