I would think that the obvious explanation is that is where fish have their "rudders." Most likely the jump involves fish somehow....whether a fish pointed it out (in suitably mythic fashion), or whether someone killed an enormous fish, hollowed out the bottom part of, and turned it into a ship (complete with some way to move the tail), and other ships were built to copy this wonder. I think the latter is more colorful (and no doubt the ships would have other fishy features, like overlayed planks with rounded ends to looks somewhat like scales, eyes painted on the sides of the prow, etc).
I look forward to a chance to see what you come up with!
--Bryan
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