Spirit of Mystery update

The Spirit of mystery has made an earlier has expected landfall to drop the injured Mark Maidment - check out the Mystery blog for the full story.

Mousehole's harbourmaster waits in the wings.

The stern countenance of trawler skipper Edwin, Mousehole's new harbourmaster-to-be graces the Mission dining room in Newlyn.

Newlyn bags the litter bug!

Sarah Henshall, from the Cornwall Fisheries Resource Centre has masterminded the litter campaign here in the west of Cornwall.

Next Friday, March 13th, Fishing for Litter South West, an initiative to help clear the sea of rubbish, will be officially launched at Newlyn.

Fishing for Litter South West is enlisting the help of local fishermen and encouraging them to bring ashore litter caught in their nets during fishing.

Local fishermen are supplied with special large hard wearing 0.5t or 1.0t bags which they take out with them so that they can easily collect marine litter that they find at sea. The bags are then brought into harbour and deposited on the quayside where the rubbish is collected and recycled or disposed of responsibly.

The project is based upon Fishing for Litter Scotland which has been in operation for over 3 years. Scotland's fishermen, from 16 major ports and from over 110 vessels, have removed over 150 tonnes of litter. As well as being harmful to the marine environment, litter can pose a serious risk by causing entanglement or breakdown of vessels at sea.

Fishing For Litter South West is coordinated by Seafood Cornwall Training Ltd, Newlyn. Further information can be found at http://www.fishingforlitter.org

Going, going, Grimmy going......

There won't be many more time when we see Grimmy Mike leaving his wheelhouse given that he has successfully obtained decommsssioning for his boat - what will the visiting yelow wellies do for dog leads in the future?.....
out in the bay another coaster sits at anchor....
the Sennen boat is back in newlyn.

Injured Mark Maidment still waiting to be airlifted from the Spirit of Mystery

Latest satellite postion of the Spirit of Mystery.

While the weather continues to dominate proceedings down under the Melbourne Water Police are hoping to send a boat out to meet the Spirit of Mystery and take off Pete Goss' brother-in-law, Mark Maidment. It was hoped to send a helicopter but, as his condition is said to be comfortable and an airlift always a risky exercise in heavy seas, the boat will continue towards her destination before rendezvouing with the rescue craft. Current news from the Pete Goss blog - click here.

Listen to Australia's 3AW693 Newstalk's Ross and Jon talk to Stuart Elford, the projects onshore co-ordinator in a live telephone interview.

Tranquil

Looking across the back of St Michael's Mount towards Mousehole presents a tranquil scene this morning.....
though with the shellfish boats back in port things may be different further off!

Jetty jettisoned by Court

Helford fishermen lose their fight to have a jetty and access road built in Helford Village. See one of the many stories in the national press reporting on the decision - click here.

Spirit of Mystery update

AMSA (Aussie equivalent of the MCA in the UK) has decided to evacuate crewman Mark Maidment from the Mystery at the earliest opportunity, around midnight tonight GMT. She is heading northwards to get within range of an SAR helicopter to airlift the injured Mark ashore, from there the boat will make for Melbourne as planned.

Spiriit of Mystery knocked flat in storm off Australia - Pete Goss and crew make for Melbourne

Spirit of Mystery's current position off Australia.

Blog followers keeping an eye on the Spirit of Mystery blog this week may have wondered at times why there were no updates since the boat was known to enter stormy waters. It turns out that the boat was hit by a large wave and knocked flat, crew member Mark suffered a broken leg at the time. The boat is said to be making good progress towards her destination and that Mark has had his leg put in a splint - all hands are said to be in good spirits despite the weather conditions which have now improved. We wish them well.

Keep up with the latest news from the Mystery blog here.

Scavengers

The Hurst Point, a Ro-Ro merchant vessel on commision to the Royal Navy takes part in a short exercise off Penzance harbour before heading off to Marchwood Military Port......
most of the Newlyn fleet are back in port as a patch of strong wind passes over the south west....
time for the Jacoba to get in some maintenance work on her dredges....
on a Wednesday morning with no fish to pseak of on the market the local seabird population are left to scaveninging from the rubbish drums on the quays....
including this unusual Arctic gull, easily distinguishable buy the all-white plumage....
and watched by one of the many regular visitors on the quay.....
she has now joined the small number of boats currently at rest in the harbour down by the iceworks berth.....
a market devoid of boats this morning......
catching the early morning sun the Mission's galleon faces the strong nor'westerly winds....

which herald the passing heavy showers acroos the back of the Mount.

Less than 1000 miles to go for Pete Goss and the boys on the Spirit

After sailing from one side of the world to the other, Pete Goss and his gallant crew must be full of anticipation as they tick off the last significant milestone in their epic adventure re-creating the voayge of the Mystery originally made on 1854. With under 1000 miles to go and the port of Melbourne making preparations for their arrival the end is in sight - almost literally. However, before then they will have to contend with a vicious little blow due to cross their paths today as indicated in the chart below - courtesy of the Australian Governemnt's Bureau of Metoreology.


South of the equator, the wind travels in a clockwise direction around a Cyclone - a useful explanation of how winds behave in general below the median line can be found here.

Monk tales

The Ajax did her best last week to combat poor prices on the market at newlyn, but it is the same story everywhere as both France and Spain are awash with hake - PH and BM markets are all suffering poor prices for prime with Newlyn making a little more on average, as much a sign of the times as the time of year when fishing for soles etc is heavy.....
crew from the Ajax's old fleet partner, the CarolH sort their fish on the market - another vessel that uses protective plastic sheets to cover the fish in the boxes at sea.....
with a big trip to land its a race against time before the buyers turn up.....
as skipper Phil Mitchell gives the boys a quick briefing on what needs to be done before they clear off the market and head back to sea for the last half of the tide.....
weighing up good sized pollack for the CarolH.....
down the market Mr Turner keeps the bids coming.....
and Ocean Fish seal the deal on the cuttles again...
so Edwin only has a few moments for a quick cuppa before heading back to the bidding....
a few of the harbour crabs and resident congers will be enjoying this monk head soon....
over on Wherry Town car park another load of steel girders bound for the new Penwith College building site.