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28-08-2020, 08:33
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 118
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Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
One morning after a fun night sail we noticed these brown splodges around the trampoline.
Being a catamaran we had a couple of larger slaps, but more whoa than wtf. Nothing seemed untoward.
The question on our mind is what it could be? It had no discernible flavour (although I consumed very little). The area smelt a little fishy, and whilst I initially thought oil, it dried to stain the deck. it looks as though it had fallen, some on the trampoline (which was stained) and there was nothing on the sails. If it had come from below surely the trampoline would have broken it up? The seas were moderate and from behind the beam.
It is not what I would normally associate with a seagull. Could it be a Cormorant or shag?
This was between Corsica and Genoa about 2 weeks ago.
Any views or similar experience would be welcome.
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28-08-2020, 13:31
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 119
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
I have seen those stains before. It's spilled coffee. I am 100% sure.
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28-08-2020, 14:59
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 118
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
From a bird perhaps?
(I don't drink coffee, or black tea for that matter) nor did anyone go forward that night (that was known to be on board at least!).
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28-08-2020, 15:04
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 43
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
Fruit bat. Or as we call them in Oz, flying fox. Maybe.
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28-08-2020, 15:06
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#5
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cat herder, extreme blacksheep

Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: furycame alley , tropics, mexico for now
Boat: 1976 FORMOSA yankee clipper 41
Posts: 18,897
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
splat from a flying something... unless it was sitting in your spreaders...then itis stationary splatt
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28-08-2020, 16:33
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#6
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: aboard, cruising in Australia
Boat: Sayer 46' Solent rig sloop
Posts: 21,106
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
I'm not sure what left the brown splaps. Shag stuff is white. Sometimes sea gulls have brownish. Got some in the face once, you were lucky it's only the boat. Got to remove it asap, bird faeces are corrosive. Maybe bleach will take out the stain. Ultimately, just the UV from the sun will help it fade.
Ann
__________________
Who scorns the calm has forgotten the storm.
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28-08-2020, 16:52
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 382
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
What part of the world are you in?
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28-08-2020, 18:56
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#8
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Senior Cruiser

Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea
Boat: FP Belize Maestro 43 and OPBs
Posts: 11,323
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
You tasted it?
It's bird ****.
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29-08-2020, 05:44
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Posts: 1,678
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
+1 bird ****.
Depending on their diet, the stains may never come out. As Ann said, thorough scrub-scrub ASAP.
Good luck!
LittleWing77
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29-08-2020, 08:52
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: PNW 48.59'45N 122.45'50W
Boat: Ian Ross design ketch 63'
Posts: 1,365
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
Cormorant crap. They eat fish so it's brown and oily. Stinks.
Hint: it also dries to a concrete like finish, so best get it off fast.
__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts...
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29-08-2020, 09:05
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 5
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
Looks like squid ink. Fish might have been chasing them up to the surface and they hopped on the boat or squirted to escape. Had this happen to our boat. Heck of a mess to get off.
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29-08-2020, 10:07
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
Boat: Nelson/Marek 50
Posts: 1,756
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
LOL for tasting it
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29-08-2020, 10:27
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Scotland
Boat: 42ft Moody Ketch
Posts: 634
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
who in there right minds tastes a brown splodge on their decks ... lets see it and wash it off , why the examination of crap the mind boggles
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29-08-2020, 10:44
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#14
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
Boat: Tartan 33 and OPB
Posts: 3,089
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
(To be read in Basil Rapthorne “Holmes character voice)
Elementary my good man. Looking at the splatter pattern and drip forward of the main solar it is definitely feces from a bird. The splatter patten is fairly tight indicating the bird was not at a great height when he relieved themselves. Perhaps even walking on deck.
While it is not unusual for pescatarian fowl to have colored feces, most tend to be whiteish.
Further since it was deposited from a bird at deck level, it was not from a raptor.
Tell me when you tasted it was it fishy or more vegetable flavored?
__________________
"Whenever...it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off- then, I account it high time to get to sea..." Ismael -a link to my delivery website is in my profile—
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29-08-2020, 11:25
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 118
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Re: Strange Brown Splodges That Appeared Overnight
We were somewhere between Cap Corse (Corsica) and Genoa. Anchor up at 7pm and all clear then. Motors on between 11pm and 2am, otherwise good breeze between 8 and 19 knots and full sails, discovered the splodges when we approached Genoa and i went forward at around 9am. Limited time for a bird to perch whilst the genoa was furled, but that would explain why the sail was unmarked. There are a lot of cormorants on Corsica, and by 11pm we would only have been 20 miles or so northwest so that could be the answer.
As to tasting it, in my defence, I hadn't had breakfast. Interesting question though - more vegetable than fish and not chemical - my initial reaction was that we had hit a floating chemical container but then realised that the spatters seemed more consistent with falling than rising. Also whether flying fish can leave deposits like that.
Initially it was hard to get off. Had to get the big guns out - mild oxalic acid and that did the trick.
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