After four years of restoration, Ripple unfurls and raises her rags

Slack pickings for the mackerel boys at the moment.....
Mr Curtis Jnr and Twinkle heave a new footrope ashore - plenty of work ahead when the boat is next in, putting a new trawl together......
Ripplemeister John Lambourn, with enlisted help, makes ready to sail the Ripple for the first time in over 50 years......
the Ben Loyal is back in Newlyn and looking resplendent.......
with the offshore element of the Duchy hosting the 20th Isles of Scilly World Gig Championship this weekend there can't be a better way to participate than aboard your own boat, no accommodation problems, able to get close to the action during the gig races and, with a boat like this, the islands are but a couple of hours away......
and who can resist posing for a photo call up on the bow?.......
meanwhile, some of the locals still have to work at the weekend.......
leaving the quay, and careful not to nudge brother's catamaran astern of him, the Ripple is all set to make history and be the first local fishing lugger to sail through the gaps for some time......
but first the sail needs to be unfurled......
and hoisted by a largely novice crew......
who, in their enthusiasm to get to sea, almost forget to make fast the forefoot of the sail.......
seconds later she makes for the gaps and provides a perfect illustration as to why the luggers are such efficent sailing machines, (and copied in all guizes) there is still the mizzen sail of similar size yet to be raised......
through the gasp under sail for the first time......
and out towards the Mount......
heeling at a gentle angle and making good speed in the light onshore breeze......
as the Brixham beamer, 3 Sons steams in......
followed by the Go For It with the Ripple off in the distance making ready to hoist her mizzen.....

work begins to hoist the 3 Son's gear back aboard the boat.

As May Day draws to a close

Ship-shape and Bristol-fashion aboard the Dutchman......
The scrap metal skip is full again.....
while one of the lazier local gulls looks for a scrap to eat in the general rubbish skip......
with the season underway, the hardier yellow-wellies arrive in town.

Flemish giant

All smiles on the deck as the giant twin-rigger Ora et Labora makes her way to a berth on the end of the new quay......
with net drums to match the trawl size......
and with a crew from Urk.

Pair team

Heading towards the gaps, the Defiant, local half of the anglo-scottish pair team......
who instead of a cabin-boy, appear to have a cowboy on board.......
waiting for the Crystal Sea II to arrive, heavy combination bridles, that these days come with reinforced and spliced ends.........
off for a feed, ever-ready gulls take to the air......
ex-fishing boat the johan is passed by a classic Cornish yacht making her way down the harbour stern first.

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More than a few meshes out

Time to rig the derrick again after the straightening out has been completed.....
whereas the mending continues along the wings of the trawl on the quay, clean ground trawls of 30 fathoms plus (a fathom equals six feet, just under two metres) contain a huge number of meshes that need cutting out and braiding.......
having the net off the ground makes this process a little easier.

Passing Stockholm

You don't see many wheelhouses like this anymore, though the Feasible, currently in Penzance wet dock is not dissimilar......
local yacht Louby passes by this unusual looking ship anchored just off Mousehole Island, the Stockholm, normally found crusing the Baltic regions, provides a base for the expedition company Origo Expedition.......
over in Penzance, and watched by harbourmaster Neil Clark,a tug being is manouvered, carfeully into the dry dock, it appears that many hands and hard hats make light work.....
a fleet of returning punts is passed by the Stockholm's zodiac tender......
as they pass St Clement's, as Mousehole Island is officially named......
during an assissted docking, the skipper of the 110 foot Belgian beamer, Vertouwen, didn't endear himself to the harbour staff this morning when his engineer shut down the main engine before she reached her berth......
the slip has a passenger for the first time in over a week.

Smoke and sail

Surrounded by hungry gulls, the Breton stern trawler Digny heads back out to the grounds......
after hours against the quay with her main engine idling, going hard astern for the Cornishman shrouds the Intuition in exhaust fumes.....
half way through the paint job for the Ros Na Rioch......
Big brother and Little brother, smallest memebr of the Rowse fleet comes alongside the Emma Louise.....
Dragun-An-Moar (captured in pastels here by marine artrist James Bartholomew) makes her way to the market with some slack mackerel fishing this evening.....
looking for some gold at the end of the rainbow......
the Cornishman heads out from the gaps.......
and lowers her derricks for the long steam ahead......
passed astern by a hardy looking bunch aboard the yacht raising their mains'l.....
as they dodge head-to-wind......
and, after hoisting the fores'l, pick up the North Westerly draft and head away from the shore.....
there's some serious repair work to be done with the port side wing of this clean ground trawl.

Good mix of high quality fish on Monday's market

Twin-rig trawl fish from the Belgian registered Dutch crewed Ora et Labora grace Monday's market, the first Dutch, or is it Belgian fish for some time....
the CarolH gets her mixed gill and tangle net trip of fish iced......
plenty of fish for the buyers to get into spending mood......
and there are still shots of cuttles to be had on the grounds it seems......
even the beamers get in on the langoustine when working well to the north of the Scillies.....
good monk fishing for the Cornishman over the slack tide......
the grading machine gets to grips with the megrim soles.....
as a heavy shower passes overhead its time to turn up the collar.....
favourite stop for locals and visitors alike with the best view in Newlyn over the harbour and a bizarre not-to-be-missed collection of ephemera suspended from the ceiling, the Fisherman's Arms even has its own bus stop...........
there's a small repair job to be done on the iceworks fender....
the most unusual craft in the harbour, Cap'n Keast's self-built outrigger solid timbered canoe.

Big Dutchmen are glad to be green!

Skipper and some of the crew aboard the huge Dutch beamer Ora et Labora are happy with both the resultant work and fishing results having turned 'green' and put their giant beam trawls ashore, swapping them for a twin-rig trawl system.....
stern view of the boat shows the trawl deck arrangement.....
and the pristine trawl doors after their first trip to the clean grounds off to the South'ard, something that was tried out (not so successfully apparently) in a Seafish sponsored trial last year by the Lerwick registered stern trawler Alison Kaye......
and being Dutch, there's the obligatory bike on board.....
traditional method of dealing with an empty oil drum at sea, pierce it with holes and toss it overboard......
the pair team are ready to sail.......

chasing in a mackerel punt is the Resurgan.....
as she passes the light.......
the Chickadee helps to pull the Billy Rowney from her quay berth......
even the Angel Emiel s dwarfed by the Ora et Labora.......
the St Ive's lugger Barnabus is gettting a new foremast courstesy of John Lambourn, the man behind the Ripple's restoration......
over on the Penzance Sailing Club's slipway, Bob Glanville, founder member of the Mount's Bay Lugger Association supervises a bottom scrub for the Happy Return......
where the Scilly registered cat Sowenna is getting the same treatment.