Poor Friday night

12 hours after the wind dropped from gusts of 60 mph and there's a heavy groundsea running along the back of the harbour wall.....
not that the Intuition is stopping for such trivial matters.....
though the sky is full of heavy rain cloud......
Harvey's remaining crabber, the William Harvey is having her bottom checked out, seacocks and fittings sorted before the engine is refitted after a rebuild and will be sailing under the command of Tom Lewis......
as another beamer trip heads for the cold store.

Cousin Jack! - Newlyn skipper's son selected to play for England!

Jack Nowell, eldest son of skipper Michael Nowell of the beam trawler Elizabeth N has been selected to play for the England Under 18 rugby team. Jack now has a chance to emulate Penzance & Newlyn's greatest England rugby cap in the shape of Brian 'Stack' Stevens who played for the 'Pirates' back in the '60s and '70s. Stack Stevens was capped 25 times for England and toured with the Lions - so the rising young star has something pretty big to aim for!

Jack is currently studying at Truro & Penwith College with their rugby academy and is looking sponsorship from local businesses or individuals keen to see proper Cornish blood back in the England team in the future. For more information and bio details see Jack Nowell's story.

BrewDog boss dodges in the lee of Ireland

While the weather was poor enough off Cornwall last night with winds reaching 60mph at Land's End, fisherman come brewmeister John Watt aboard BF77, the Ocean Quest is currently sheltering off the West coast of Ireland. Use Twitter to follow the exploits of him and his fellow brewers as they chase winter mackerel - see previous post for more info.

Work being undertaken by the Marine Stewardship Council

Keep abreast of the work being carried out by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) - click on the markers on this interactive map to check on the latest developments.

See food.

A picture of Tranquility as the sun begins to dowse the harbour with light.....
crabs fly up to the back of Seafood and Eat It's van, which bears a warning to prosepctive thieves, "no crabs left in van overnight"........
all in a day's work for the Dom Bosco boys.......
signs of a few sprats that look like anchovies in the early morning light!.

Cold and quiet.

More like a rocket trail than a contrail over the Lizard this morning......
the survey vessel Sea Otter from Norfolk based Enviroserve on passage via Newlyn......
still working in the South West before she is allowed back in the North Sea, the Ora et Labora goes through her gear......
and adds new steel to her starboard side beam trawl shoes......
while her fish leave the harbour lorry park bound for her home fish market......
out in the Bay, a small coaster lays at anchor.

Spanish crew rescued by sister ship off Irish coast.

The skipper and crew of the Ortegal 1 were were successfully transferred to a sister ship, Ortegal 3 over 200 miles West of Shannon.

Quest for a killer India Pale Ale.

What does the son James Watt of the skipper of Banff registered mid-water trawler Ocean Quest killer whales and beer have in common? While many fisherman's sons dream of owning their own boat, James Watt dreamt of brewing his own beer - and not just any beer - for a brief period his beer was the world's strongest going by the name of Tactical Nuclear Penguin and not without controversy - though in James' case methinks this would very definitely be a case of, 'there is no such thing as bad publicity'!. First going to sea at the age of seven, James still spends the winter months aboard the family pelagic boat Ocean Quest fishing from Fraserburgh - but only after completing a degree at Aberdeen University and then opening a micro-brewery outside Fraserburgh in 2006. The BrewDog brewery now produces over 200,000 bottles a month including a 'proper' India Pale Ale called Punk IPA.

Last year the brewery released a limited edition, cask-conditioned 'Atlantic IPA' (a little more feisty than Cornish micro-brewery Sharp's Atlantic IPA) under the most extreme circumstances when seven - it should have been eight - (see video)wooden casks were loaded aboard the Ocean Quest and left on board for the remainder of the mackerel season to mature in the North Atlantic - the video tells the full story! The artwork for the label was designed by a artist Joahanna Basford. Maybe Skinner's, Sharp's, St Austell or the Lizard breweries could go one better?

Missing mackerel - not like the 'old days'!

While bottom trawling aboard the Inverness registered Milford trawler Girl Freda INS89 skippered by Bobby Cairns.......
a full lift of dead mackerel trawled from an area in Mount's Bay known as, The Pits. These photos were taken early in 1979 when a large fleet of freezer trawlers, stern trawlers and pursers were working in and around the Bay......
the fish were either discarded on purpose for being too large - in the early days of mackerel fishing the market was better for small fish so boats would slip their hauls if the size mix was wrong - or the result of damaged trawls - the mixed state of decay suggests two lots of dumped or lost fish on the same ground - the smell was horrendous!

First rule of the road - "Might is Right"

As any fisherman knows, when out on the high seas in the company of larger vessels than yourself, the first rule of the road is, "Might is Right". The skipper of the Ady Gill, one of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's fleet, ended up in a position where it seems inevitable that he would fall foul of this oldest of collision regulations with inevitable - but luckily for his crew - not fateful consequences.

Whether for or against whaling, an operation being carried out by the Japanese whaler concerned within the spirit of international law, any actions that jeopardise a vessel or vessels making a safe passage at sea cannot be condoned - especially when lives are put at risk. Towards the end of the video, after the collision, it sounds like the Japanese commentary aboard the whaler describing the situation says, in English, "uh, the whole thing....not good"

The boat called in to the Scilly last year on her round the world voyage before she joined the Sea Shepherd group. This is a long way from her record breaking non-stop trip around the world completed in 2008 when she was known as the

Drop-in day at Falmouth's National Maritime Museum

There is a drop-in day at the National Maritime Museum on Wednesday, January the 27th when you can meet and talk with representatives from Finding Sanctuary about the proposed new Marine Protected Areas (MPA) around the South West.

First of the new year's pollack courtesy of the Gary M

Prime pollack from the Gary M......
in a freezing flat calm harbour......
with only a handful of boats to land while the fleet makes good use of the fine weather before the predicted gale arrives ealy on Tuesday......
one huge conger from the beamer George Johannes.