Seafood's 2 a week has arrived!

September the 5th saw the start of Seafood fortnight's, "2 a week" campaign to encourage people to eat fish at least twice a week. Local restaurants, fish friers, producers and other fishy venues of all sorts have signed up to take part in the festivities in the South West.
Here's a suggestion courtesy of that well known chef, Carluccio taken from his classic book, "Complete Italian Food"....
so, not wanting to be left out, 'Through the gaps' has kicked off the fortnight with a classic Sicilian dish, "Sarine Alla Beccafico" - rolled and baked locally caught Cornish Sardines of course - though, in addition to the recipe in the book, and courtesy of someone who lived in Taormina in Sicily, the fish were marinated in white wine vinegar for 5 minutes before being stuffed...
The dish visually represents small birds known as 'fig peckers' which the Italians were ( and probably still are in some places) very fond.
plated with a few carrots and broccoli and ready to go!

While the rest of the country is deluged

With a big ground sea running in from the Atlantic....
which meant that, unusually for Mounts Bay, over a dozen surfers took advantage of the big, but at times messy surf - with this guy enjoying the dramatic backdrop so much he's surfing backwards to get a better view!....
as did a number of Penzance canoeists....
the base for these guys, Penzance Canoe and Sub Aqua Club is here behind the CKS....
there may have been plenty of people down the back of the stone quay looking for the end of this one....
regular visitor, Admiral Gordon fresh from her annual paint-up....

Blow passes by in the night - Cornwall gets a soaking

Just before high water, Penzance prom (unique in Cornwall) keeps the dog walkers at bay....
in Newlyn, the ex-fishing vessel, Zephyr takes shelter on passage.....
amidst a crowded harbour, though there are no French boats in which means this is a quick blow....
the Ripple is kept off the quayside by the breeze....
someone on the verge of adventure makes their early way down the quay laden with sea bags and new sleeping kit.....
on a day when the market was almost devoid of fish.....
they say a sailor has one in every port, here it seems we have boxes from every port, how many countries are represented here?....
bet the chap who invented plastic cable-ties never dreamed they would be used by fishermen to secure the fishing line to the footrope of trawls!...

the Crystal Sea II's doors provide the ideal home for a lost banana skin.

Newlyn Festival of the Arts

Coming up in November, Newlyn Festival of the Arts will celebrate art in its many guises all over the village, indoors and out, from painting and poetry to DJs and Dance - something for everyone. For more information see the flyer.

A bit of rust

Not much local stone evident in this property overlooking the Bay....where the Geordie boys on the Valhalla are sorting out their trawl in clear water, IOS supply ship, Gry Maritha passes down their starboard side bound for the Scillies....
with the big tides this week and a poor forecast there are plenty of boats crowding the harbour....
which gives the Jacoba a chance to go through her scallop dredges...
laying outside Penzance wet dock, TN Trawler's George Lou N shows off her rust covered hull, when steel meets steel at sea rust follows within minutes so that boats working any kind of heavy gear tend to look uncared for within weeks of a paint-up.

Cape Cornwall gig 'Brisons' practice night

Looking back along the conveyor on the scalloper, Jacoba where the dredges are emptied at hauling.....
a significant safety feature, a close-up of the hydraulically operated hook bar that holds the 18m beam with its multi bars and 18 dredges and prevents them swinging across the deck while the contents of the dredges are tipped onto the conveyor during hauling....
it's practice night for the Cape Cornwall gig rowers as the Brisons is launched from the old Canner's Slip (so-called as Shippams once had a small canning plant in the building opposite where Trelawney Fish are now)....
after a few more alterations the engine has been fitted aboard the Inspiration.....
and at the end of the day its time to cover the shining new paint work......
Star of the North, one of the few boats in the area working the pollack boards, now using aluminium and not bamboo poles to avoid damage.

Myths and legends in the port

Let's hope he hasn't, "lost his penka doon the nettie", our resident Geordie slips back to a berth with the landing gear still aloft on the Valhalla.....
fresh supplies of tooth bars and backs have arrived for the biggest scalloper around, the Jacoba...
still looking good after her annual paint-up, unlike another household cleaner Vim this one is still around....
still against the quay, PZ10....
fresh lube oil next to fresh paint means the Cornish flag-flying Sapphire cannot be far off ready to go back to sea....
stood alongside the Emma Louise and many months labour, Alistair is itching to get those pots wet...
shrouded from the rain, the new sails for the Ripple are being kept under wraps for the moment...
not very often you see the bow and stern ropes put ashore incorrectly, for the uninitiated the bow rope should be passed over the boat ahead's stern rope and not under as has happened here - in poor weather the ropes might chafe through or one could be lifted from the bollard - either way a boat could end up set adrift.....
in the rain, Jan Strick lends a hand with the trawl before it is wound on to the net drum.....
its smiles all round in Badcocks lates exhibition although in another room....
there are a few legends on display.

Fisherman Mike Mahon forced to don Pirate's hat

A Tyne class lifeboat making for Newlyn passes between Gwennap Head and the Runnelstone buoy......
setting out from the UK's Westernmost fishing spot Penberth Cove an inflatable dinghy disturbs a flock of gulls....
news of Mike Mahon's 'crime against humanity' protest over the dumping of over-quota fish has attracted attention from afar, Mike is seen here with Phil Stebbings, journalist and director of the film "The Deadline" which exposes illegal fishing activities off the coast of Africa....
the Pirate's hat is worn because that is what he has been forced to become by the imposition of unworkable EU's fisheries regulations according to Mike...
an empty fish box is what he feels is the only kind of fish box Brussels wants him to put ashore....
Mike then takes the visitors off for a short trip around the harbour.