History of the Jet Ski

History of the Jet Ski Personal water craft have been around for more than half a century. The â€Å"Jet Ski,† however, is a trademark used by Kawasaki for its line of personal motorized water craft. Although the word Jet Ski has now become a more generic term describing all personal watercraft, well use it to refer specifically to the Kawasaki vessels. Early Years The earliest water scooters- as they were originally called- were introduced to Europe in the mid 1950s by motorcycle makers looking to expand their markets. The British company Vincent produced some 2,000 of its Amanda water scooters in 1955, but it failed to create the new market Vincent had hoped for. Despite the failure of European water scooters to catch on in the 1950s, the 60s saw continued attempts at tinkering with the idea. The Italian company Mival introduced its Nautical Pleasure Cruiser, which required users to hang onto the craft from behind. Australian motocross enthusiast Clayton Jacobsen II decided to design his own version so that its pilots would be standing up. His big breakthrough, though, was switching from the old outboard motors to an internal pump-jet. Jacobsen made his first prototype out of aluminum in 1965. He tried again a year later, this time opting for fiberglass. He sold his idea to the snowmobile manufacturer Bombardier, but they failed to catch on and Bombardier gave up on them. With patent back in hand, Jacobsen went to Kawasaki, which brought out its model in 1973. It was called the  Jet Ski. With the benefit of Kawasaki’s marketing, the Jet Ski won a loyal audience as a way to waterski without the need  for a boat. It was a small audience, however, as remaining on board while standing up- especially in choppy water- remained a challenge. Jet Skis Go Big The next decade planted the seeds for an explosion in the  popularity of personal water craft. For one thing, new models were introduced that let  riders do what they could do back on the old water scooters. The ability to sit down helped pilot stability. New designs not only improved stability further, but they allowed for two riders at a time, introducing a social element to personal water crafts. Bombardier got back into the game with the introduction of the Sea-Doo, which went on to become the best-selling personal watercraft in the world. With further advances in engine technology and emissions, today’s personal water craft enjoy new-found success in every metric. They can go faster than ever, reaching 60 miles an hour. And they now sell more than any boat in the world. Jet Ski Competitions As the popularity of personal water craft started to take off, enthusiasts started to organize races and competitions. The premiere racing series event is the  P1 AquaX, which launched in the United Kingdom in May 2011. London-based sports promoter Powerboat P1  created the racing series and expanded to the United States in 2013. And by 2015, as many as  400 riders from 11 countries had signed up to compete in an AquaX event. The organizers are looking to expand to other countries.

The Meaning of To a T

The Meaning of To a T The Meaning of To a T The Meaning of To a T By Mark Nichol The expression â€Å"to a T,† as in â€Å"That suits you to a T!† is often mistakenly written or said as â€Å"to the T† (or â€Å"to a tee† or â€Å"to the tee†). This type of alteration occurs often in idiomatic phrases (note â€Å"all of the sudden† and â€Å"for all intensive purposes,† among others). In today’s anarchic publishing environment, writers are free to consciously or unconsciously style such phrases however they choose, but careful writers will preserve prevailing norms. But what, exactly, is a â€Å"T†? None of the various proposed origins of â€Å"to a T† is definitive, but only one makes any sense. The opinion that it refers to how well a T-shirt fits is nonsensical: The term for a collarless, short-sleeved shirt is less than a hundred years old, and the expression dates to the late 1600s. That also disqualifies the more plausible theory that it alludes to the precision a T square, the T-shaped drafting tool, enables; the first attested use in print of the tool’s name postdates the first use of the phrase by nearly a century. And is has nothing to do with the golf implement known as the tee, which has always been spelled as such (though the spelling error â€Å"to a tee† goes back hundreds of years). Most likely, the phrase is descended from the expression â€Å"to a tittle.† A tittle is a small mark used in orthographic details, such as the dot over an i or a j or a diacritical mark such as an accent mark, and the sense is â€Å"to the smallest detail.† But why isn’t the expression styled â€Å"to a t†? That’s because uppercase letters are the default setting when using a letter to represent something. Report cards have As and Bs (but, the recipient hopes, no other capital letters), the force of gravity is expressed as a multiple of Gs (the capital letter is the scientific symbol for gravity), and X, not x, marks the spot. (We also use uppercase letters such as S and V to denote shapes- though, like X as a location marker and the other uses referred to above, they should not be italicized in those contexts, because they do not literally represent letters.) There are a couple of exceptions: The context of â€Å"Dot your i’s and cross your t’s† and â€Å"Mind your p’s and q’s†- if one accepts the contested interpretation that the latter originally referred to easily confused letters- requires lowercase letters. Does teetotaler have any connection? The word for someone who abstains from alcohol goes back nearly two centuries but originally referred merely to intensification of one’s feelings about being totally devoted to something, with tee attached as a form of reduplication. But as the differing spelling indicates, this word has nothing in common with the expression â€Å"to a T.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 English Grammar Rules You Should Know44 Resume Writing TipsPreposition Mistakes #1: Accused and Excited