Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil
The Jangada is steered with the oar in a kind-of-slot seen on the back of the boat. There is one of these slots on each side at the back of the boat, so tacking the boat involves moving the steering oar from one side to the other. The steering oar can be used standing up on the deck, or sitting on the blue steering seat. The almost vertical blue poles are not part of the steering system (more on them later). Ahead of the owner can be seen the blue fishing seat, with anchor ropes coiled on it. The fish box is below the fishing seat, the bait box (not shown) is ahead of the fishing seat.