Wednesday, 17 June 2009

The gunslinger's in town again

Lamorna under skipper David Pascoe passes the Mount on the way in......
a bit of sailing history in the harbour - restored in immaculate condition, the yacht Gunslinger, a survivor of the infamous 1979 Fastnet Yacht Race in which fifteen people lost their lives, the yacht features in an illustrated book covering the race - Fastnet, Force 10 - the race was hit by hurricane strength winds over Saturday night - only two local boats, longliners were at sea, the Girl Patricia and the Girl Pat III - Michael Willimas, skipper of the Girl Patricia recalls the midnight watch coming down from the wheelhouse saying the forecast was terrible but there was no wind at all on top, by the time Michael had gone up top to assess the situation the wind had already picked up - 24 hours later, on Sunday night, several Breton trawlers (out of a huge fleet of prawn trawlers from St Guenole, Loctudy and Guilvenec working west of the Scillies ) arrived in Newlyn, one under tow, the others towing disabled yachts they had come across..... a motley collection of boats, including the now beautifully restored Pioneer, once worked by Cyril Gascoigne from which he dived for sea urchins (when they were all the rage), the urchins were bagged at sea and taken to Penzance dockside where they were cleaned in tubs of caustic soda......
a bit pf proud to be British flying atop the mast of the well restored steel yact Elizabeth.....
a few old salts chew the fat over a few net bins on the pontoon.....
first time on the slip for Ocean Fish's highly successful ringnetter Resolute.

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