Friday, April 27, 2007

Top Tips: It Happens......

2 comments:

Wendy Killoran said...

Hey Mark, there's an interesting write-up about that photo at the following website:

http://www.pbase.com/image/60184782

Southern Lake Huron is surrounded by agricultural lands with effluence with manure entering the lake. On my last paddle there, there literally was "shit" visible. No rolling practice for me!

Sea Kayak Mark said...

The term 'shit' originated maybe 300 years ago as an acronym for 'ship high in transit.' Burlap bales of dung that were used for heating fuel were shipped on sail boats and had 'shit' written on the bales to indicate it needed to be kept up off the wet lower deck. Otherwise it could soak up the water and besides getting very heavy, it would chemically react, creating flammable and very smelly methane gas.

Apparently the phrase 'shit hitting the fan' also originates from transporting dung on a sail boat, below deck but as yet no explanation has been found