Fickle autumnal weather dogs the Mystery boys

"When the wind wouldn't blow the ship wouldn't go", so goes a line from an old rugby song. Sure enough, the Spirit of Mystery is being dogged by an awkward weather system at the moment. Looking at the tracking page on the Goss website you can see evidence of the lack of decent wind from their plots which remain fairly static over the last 24 hours. Worse still, a quick check on the forecast pages don't look good for making good any serious progress in a sou'westerly direction for at least three, if not four days!

You can see from the today's chart that there will be little in the way of wind (see Saturday) and, what wind there is, will likely be, 'variable' in direction. The +96 hour chart does hint at a northerly breeze which should at least allow them to make good a west-sou'-westerly course to clear the north coast of the land of bulls and paella.

This should give them plenty of time to investigate the chaffing in the rigging which, although not serious in itself, may give rise to problems in the future. In 1854, the crew aboard the Mystery would have enjoyed the benefit of sailing a boat with a myriad of minor modifications and finely-tuned adjustments to the rigging and general layout born of years of hard wear and tear from fishing.

Here's a handy website which gives the wind in 3-hourly shots over the next 48 hours for the Bay of Biscay - Pete has just updated his blog and sure enough the wind is fickle - let's hope Eliot finds his sea legs!

Spirit of Mystery update

The boys are making good progress, though not necessarily in the direction intended! The latest plot on their website shows them just over 300 miles fom Newlyn. The fact that those aboard do not know exactly where they are at present is reminder of the faithful recreation of the original voyage. They are navigating with a mixture of dead reckoning and sun sights, though as can be read in the latest entry, Pete Goss is sure they have been making too much ground to the east - and, as we can see and they cannot, he is right! Of course, if they carry on for too long on their current course the smell of paellea and the sight of the Spanish mainland looming over the horizon will confirm his suspicions!

Sea beast

Not too sure of the correct translation for this boat - Moar would seem to mean big or large (from the Irish).....many thanks to Ian Soulsby (Lowena Mor) who tells me that he named this boat about 8 years ago when she came down from Weymouth and is in fact Cornish not Irish!.....
the Geordie boys are working in the dark - literally - on some port side door adjsutments....
lined up on the quay and waiting to be christened, hundreds of pots for the Emma Louise....
with a change in the weather later today, the buyers will pay top dollar for these line caught bass.....
likewise, the sardine boats are keeping processors like FalFish busy with fresh supplies.....
taking a break between sales, Stevenson's auctioneer Ian Oliver tots up the slaes figures on a relatively small market....
it seems that buyers are forced to get down on their knees and pay homage to the quality fish from Jake's Go for it.....
delicacies in the case of monk cheeks from the Lizard boat, Scorpio....

weights of a box of good sized monk tails being checked.

The Spirit of Mystery - the voyage in context

You can keep up with life aboard the Spirit of Mystery by following the boat's progress on their website - the current plot shows them 230 miles sou'-sou'-west of Newlyn on a course that will take them well into the southern latitudes before they turn and run before the southern westerlies and on to Capetown, South Africa.

Totally reliant on the elements, Pete Goss will make use of the trade winds and tides as did his predecessor. A careful look at this image shows how they will use the prevailing winds to carry the Mystery south and west. Once well down in the southern hemisphere, they will pick up the south atlantic trades which will eventually bring them into Melbourne, Australia. This image shows the route for the Velux 5 oceans race and bears a remarkable resemblance to that of the original Mystery's voyage - that there Cap'n Nicholls obviously knew his stuff!

Also on the website is a chart showing the course of the original voyage from the log kept by Captain Nicholls. Consider this in the context of the day when the world was going crazy for gold after it was discovered in California in 1848. At that time the people of America were not even united - there were still 7 years to go before the first shots were fired in the Civil War. It was 1854, still within living memory of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Nelson had only died in 1805, Stephenson's steam engine Rocket first belched smoke in 1829 and the world's fastest tea clipper Cutty Sark's keel was not laid until 1869. Notable Cornish events can be seen here, while the beginnings of a mass emigration of Cornishmen was about to unfold as discussed in this paper.

Here were a handful of Cornish fisherman, their sense of adventure no doubt fueled by a few jars in the Star Inn prepared to sail to the other side of the globe in a fishing boat aided by a compass, sextant and whatever good fortune would come their way. No doubt years of being caught out in poor weather and dealing with the day-to-day mishaps that every fishing boat seems to invite stood them in good stead. Like those in other 'hard' jobs, fishermen deal with the extraordinary in a down-to-earth, matter-of-fact and pragmatic way - no need to get excited or upset as nature soon teaches you a salutory lesson - that you just have to get on with it - wind and waves heed no cries of anger or frustration.

So it was on Monday evening with the departure of the Spirit of Mystery, a low-key affair with little fuss, a local news team from BBC Spotlight covered their sedate progress, rowing the boat from their berth and out through the gaps.

We wish them well.

Works of art

Seen here making her way to the gaps at Concarneau, the Amalthee.....
the Douarnenez registered Narval DZ 185092 is seen here trawling for langoustine on the Smalls Ground around 1983 - these paintings, by J Pedler of Truro, are in the private collection of Roy Shelley, friend of several Breton fishermen - the Narval was broken up and scrapped in recent weeks.

Spirit of Mystery - next stop, Capetown S.A.

In heavy Cornish drizzle befitting the time of year, the Spirit of Mystery lays outside the Ripple as last minute supplies are checked aboard.....
skipper and inspiration for the project Pete Goss has to find home for a few odds and ends.....
while brother-in-law Mark takes one of life's luxuries aboard that will no doubt be rationed.....
Pete's son Eliot, at just 14 the youngest member of the crew clutches a 'Through the Gaps' photo book to deliver to Australia....
final supplies make their way aboard...
and younger brother Andy gives the thumbs-up....
before lending a hand with the provisions.

Quality assured on Monday's market

It's business as usual down in Newlyn this morning - though on the New Quay the Spirit of Mystery waits to set sail for Australia. She could leave today, so it's worth checking with Pete Goss' blog on a regular basis - on a side note, thanks for letting the Mystery camp know that the artist Pete mentioned in his blog was in fact Mark Curtis' father Roger.....

In these dark mornings the lights are on in W Harvey's crab processing building down Newlyn Coombe.....
a shot of mixed quality fish this morning from Jake Freethy on the Go for it included both herring, red and grey mullet ...
a stack of squid leave their tell-tale mark on the market floor.....
the buyers are about to descend on a good shot of quality John Dorys from the Twilight's trip.....
a single squid the length of a box, not quite a monster from the deep but big enough!.....
top bass handline fisherman Dennis Pascoe eyes up the landings from the rest of the bass fleet working the Runnelstone Reef over the weekend....
CEFAS works closely with the local boats......
Samways, yet another company to take advantage of the vinyl graphics that make possible these enormous attention grabbing images on the sides of their fish wagons......
in for the weekend, the Crystal Sea II - check up on her progress through their website.

Spitit of Mystery looks to the forecast

Waiting for the tide to move on the Sea Spray sits on the hard.....
after being towed in by the Sennen lifeboat the Colette of Yealm rests on a pontoon berth, the only visiting yacht in the harbour.....

the almost horizontal Cornish flag aboard the Spirit of Mystery; as predicted, the winds have picked up from the South West and justified Pete Goss' move to bring the boat round early from Falmouth - she's looking to sail as the forecast improves sometime on Tuesday.....

Trans-ocean connections

Around the coast nothing is far from having a direct connection with fishing, many a local trawler has come fast on one of the numerous trans-Atlantic cables (one of the originals is visible in the picture) that criss-cross the seabed off Cornwall all round the Western Approaches - visitors to the museum at the old Cable & Wireless training school can get the full story...
just off Pedn Vounder beach is a small sandbar that appears at low water....
within a short walk of the beach at portcurno one of many unique attractions in the area, the Minack boasts probably the most dramatic backdrops to any theatre stage in the world - though, as of the next few weeks theatregoers will no longer be able to watch the QE2 - she often passed Lands End and the Scillies at sunset and was easliy visible from your seat at the Minack - visitor tip at the Minack, always bring something to sit on, a blanket and a thermos....
making her way slowly to Newlyn, the Sennen Lifeboat tows the yacht, Colette of Yealm from off Pendeen where she had fouled her propellor....
most South West Coast Path walkers would miss the local bass fleet hard at work just inside the Runnelstone Buoy....
looking west towards Portgwarra over one of Cornwall's most secluded beaches at porth Chapel, above which nestles St Leavn's Holy Well.....
the giant pebble beach east side of Porthgwarra....
as the sun breaks through the heavy a cloud a buzzard circles over Gwennap Head, the National Coastwatch lookout station....

after all the exercise, fresh squid in the evening from a Jamie Oilver recipe courtesy of Edwin on the Cathryn - onion, chilli, parsley and Linguine pasta.