Saturday sees smoke and settled seas so it's early sailings

Ben My Chree is the first of the netters to get away after the last few days blow.....
while Don must be looking to get his injectors done on the William......
some late spring cleaning is in order on the fish market screens.....
and another chance at taking a few bass from around the stones for the ounts.......
down come the derricks as the George Johannes powers her way past the Mount.....
while the St Georges makes a more stately exit towards the gaps......
top line-caught pollack boat, the Sea Spray heads back to the gaps.....
as another punt heads off past the light.....
followed by the St Georges heading into a dazzling morning sun.....
last chance to stretch the legs ashore before the Harvest Venture sails.....
skippr Nudd takes the Intuition out for the day......
overnight this year's Christmas trees have been dropped off outside the Mission.....
and in the harbour.

Spirit of Mystery & Vendee updates

It was in the 1996 Vendee singlehanded fround the world race that Pete Goss turned back in atrocious weather to the rescue of fellow competitor Raphael Dinelli, thereby costing him any chance of race victory. Pete and the boys have just been passed close to by several competitors in the current Vendee Challenge. The chart above has the current approximate postition of the Spirit of Mystery marked in red, with the Vendee competitors strung out ahead. One of these has juust completed a 390 mile run in 24 hours, with some of the boats touching 35 knots plus.

Jeremy Thomspon has been busy again

Local Newlyn artists Jeremy Thompson has recently completed this painting, very much in traditional style entitled, "Fishing off the trees" - an area to the west of Mousehole marked by a small planted wood.

Black on orange

A sure sign there's more than a fresh breeze out there, a lonely Breton trawler, the Ar Zantez is taking shelter - not so long ago a 'tempete' would herald a mini Breton invasion and over twenty trawlers would seek shelter in the port - an opportunity to make friends and share one or two recipes for those whom were so inclined....
Dark skies and even darker boxes, evidence that the cuttles are still in abundance. There's plenty of research to read up on over these amazing creatures - including how to catch them - only those who have seen them when still alive at sea can fully appreciate this! Apart from being used for drawing ink and giving its name to 'sepia' photographs cuttles are used extensivley in cooking and for food colouring today - there's plenty of recipes to choose from with Siciliy probably home to the most well known - if you haven't already, try some - more tender and tasty than squid!.....
today, Ocean Fish are in the black and on the floor.....
with so many cuttles its time to resort to bulk handling, the 500kg insulated tubs now come into their own as Ian and Ryan load them up - with the addition of a layer of plastic to (hopefully) keep off the ink.....
overlooking dozens of boxes of cuttles from the Cornishman, another guided tour is underway around the harbour.....

the market boys will have their work cut out hosing this lot down later today.

Black Thursday

Green and black, good hauls of cuttles are back in evidence again this week - a welcome boost to the big beamer grossings at this time of year - not so good for the guys down the fishrooms trying to get them clean after each trip!......

with over 50 boxes from the St Georges just about to be auctioned......

Edwin from Samways Fish will be keen to get his hands on some black this morning......

when you forget your box-hook you just have to get down and push.......

this is about as big as these squid get - a full box length - not including the tentacles.....

there's a whole stack of boxes ready to have the cuttlefish ink washed away...

gilnetter CarolH makes a split tide landing.

Under wraps

About to let go the ends, skipper Traz aboard the Dignity makes last minute checks around the huge working deck on his catamaran....
the Nellie has landed back in Newlyn - just waiting for the boxes to go back aboard.....
with her still looking like a movie set, shotblasting aboard the Plymouth Explorer continues .....
as ever, electrolysis eats away at the edges wherever two metals with different properties are joined - mild steel and aluminium always make for uneasy bedfellows - so the lower sides of the Filadelphia's wheelhouse are being repaired.

At the market

End of an era - Newlyn is about to lose one of its most significant vessels with the news that the Sowenna has been sold away to Ireland. When she arrived in Newlyn under the command of the relatively youthful, Ian 'Mitch' Mitchell she heralded a major change in the port - the first new vessel built to order of any size for well over twenty years, the first purpose built netter and the first boat to work on the continental shelf and in other innovative ways. Along with the Ar Bageergan and the Brittania V she chased the tuna using drift nets which attracted the unwelcome attention of Greenpeace activists - local fishermens' first taste of conflict with the burguoning 'Green' movement. A gallery of images from the time is available here.......
under dull grizzly skies the Ullapool registerd inshore vessel heads for the grounds....
with steady sardine fishing, FalFish staff are being kept busy loading transport with the night's work.....

in a week that saw one boat leave the port and the latest recruit become active and join the fleet, the Emma Louise lands to the fishmarket.

Another neap begins

more bait gpoes aboard the Dom Bosco.....

as the Ajax leaves her berth and heads round to the iceworks.

Gone soft

The Geordie boys have been down South for too long - not so long a go they would have been wearing just a T-shirt in this weather when mending on the quay.......
more than enough blue for a sailors trousers.....

the fresh Northerly breeze keeps the boats away from the quayside.