Saturday, 16 August 2008

The wind effect and another cat in town

The jack-up rig has had to delay sailing to its destination off the Lizard Lifeboat station due to the wind strength....
even the swans seem somewhat dejected by the unseasonal weather.....
another wind - a WindCat on passage, one of a whole fleet currently being built to support the increasing number of offshore windfarms around our coastline....
the Iron Fairy has been picked up by Andrew Stephens transport of St Just.

Friday, 15 August 2008

Construction rig held up..

On the New Quay, the Oliva Jean sporting 18 scallop dredges a side....
these guys must be big fans of the reds!.....
some of the crew from C&J Drilling chew the fat.....
as the jack-up rig they are working from is now berthed over by the slip waiting for a break in the weather. She is due to start work on the construction of a new lifeboat house at Cadgwith for the Lizard Lifeboat.....

Sun's out, scallops 'n sardines are in - fire the barby up!

A gaggle of boats landing to the market this morning, Dom Bosco putting crab ashore, CKS netted wreck and ground fish, Little Pearl with 9 tons of Cornish sardines and the Gary M wreck and ground fish from her mono nets.....
these days gill-netters use their overhead net transporter to roll net into builders bags for easy handling ashore when the nets go off to the net loft for repair.....
more bits get sorted aboard the Emma Louise....
she used to be the Sasah Emiel from Brixham, now she's the Olivia Jean TN35 registered in Troon and rigged for scallops - without the luxury of a conveyor the boys aboard here must do a lot of shovel work!.......
the first few brails come ashore from the Little Pearl sporting her watertight tanks that she was recently fitted with - the guys are still trying to work out the most efficient way to brail fish from the tanks that run right across the boat - you can see both port and starboard flush deck hatches are open.....
so, while skipper David has a brainwave there is the chance for a quick biscuit....
or in Ollie's case a ciggy break.....
though after re-appearing and donning a dry-suit a small crowd appears intrigued as skipper David appears to be practicing some tricky footwork for a new dance routine ?.......
all is now revealed, down under the deck, dryish in the dry-suit David is able to fill each brail to the max....
with the night's work looking skywards.......
they make their way to the waiting FalFish tubs.....
there were also a few boxes of Stone Bass from the CKS on the market....
coming hard astern after landing her best shot of tuna yet - 1300 fish, now safely on their way to FalFish for processing the Nova Spero heads back to her berth.

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

Sign of the Times - OnLine

It is hard to separate Art and Fishing in this part of the world as Lucas Holweg from the Times-OnLine finds out!

Apart from the Newlyn Orion Gallery, the Exchange in Penzance and the Tate in St Ives all of whom must be benefiting from the weather - don't forget, if you are in Penzance there are plenty of other galleries featuring the work of local artists to visit: in Penlee Park, with its selection of Newlyn School works there is the Penlee House Musem & Gallery, or the Arts Club, the aptly named Rainyday Gallery, the newly moved Lighthouse Gallery specialising in the work of local artists with a penchant for the sea, the freshwater Goldfish Fine Art Gallery - and more - enjoy!

Tuesday, 12 August 2008

Afloat at last!

Seems there is more to the excavations than shifting shingle, looks like there is a new watercourse being put in place for the boating pool stream....
not often that a boat has two names, in spite of the frequent showers, Squirrel, the local signwriter's efforts are now on show on the stern of the Emma Luoise, here watched over by Emma....
Tom's Harvest Reaper now has a new Spencer Carter net drum on her stern....
Andrew Pasoce and the Inspiration's owner engage in some quiet evening discourse on the state of the harbour developments......
alongside the now floating boat whose timbers have almost been staunched....
a brace of inshore trawler skippers pose for the camera.

Firing on all cylinders!

These pots must be getting impatient alongside the Emma J......
time for the liferafts to have their annual service aboard the Sapphire, a diificult task swingiong them ashore made to look easy by Lofty and Co......
in the workshop last minute adjustments are being made to the Stuart & Turner engine being prepared for the Inspiration......
including the tappet clearance above the valves.....
then its outside and time to drop the de-compressors while the engine is turned over by hand....
and in a move guaranteed to endear himself to the neighbours - there she fires!
Brittania IV was one of the few boats to land mid-tide this morning.....
the weather this year has piled shingle on the beach at Wherry Town right up to the pathway....
so, it's time to get the JCB in to shift it back down the beach.....
and if you are in the area, make a date with the Raft Race this weekend - a real family affair and a great spectacle.....

video

Watch a short animation of the motor being fired up by hand - there's plenty of smoke - and it's not from Nick's pipe this time!

Monday, 11 August 2008

Not just any red mullet, these are.....

Two graders are kept busy this morning working their way through a full trip from the Billy Rowney......
with 115 boxes from the first week of twin-rig trials aboard the Alison Kay still to be sorted on this Monday morning market....
their boxes are tallied with the date caught, species, size and weight to the nearest gram aboard the boat....
Filadelfia and Billy Rowney were just two of the fleet to land this morning....
when it comes to quality fish, red mullet are hard to beat, these perfect examples still retain their true gold colour - try the Summer House Restaurant in Penzance and let the chef/patron, Ciro Zaino an Italian chef who really knows how to prepare these fish tickle your taste buds!

Sunday, 10 August 2008

Back in after the first week of twin-rig trials, the Alison Kay waits to land her fish....
there's something unusual in the water in front of the Sowenna on the slip....
part of the Alison Kay's catch, discarded fishing gear of every description, monofilament nylon gill net, monofilament Spanish longline, polypropylene and nylon trawl net......
view of the working deck aboard the twin-tigger.....
most of the visiting yachts are serious long distance vessels....
closer inspection reveals the floating object to be SS22, the Inspiration, now fully submerged waiting for her timbers to swell and tighten up.

The rain it cometh...

Under dark and brooding skies the classic Art Deco pool on the prom has no takers today...
even though the water is warm enough .......
there's a couple of sharks after this gull riding out the near gale-force Westerly winds.....
two classic St Ives registered restored boats, the Ripple rests astern of the newly launched Inspriation.....
the Lyonnesse still has her ring net up through the power block.