Fishing for hake, Ajax sails from Newlyn.

Bound away with 16 hours steaming ahead of her. The shipping forecast for area Sole where she will be tonight is, West or Northwest 5-7, decreasing 4 at times, sea state moderate or rough, occasionally very rough with showers, squally at first, visibility moderate or good - what would be described by those in the trade as 'uncomfortable'. Follow skipper Alan's progress from the Twitter box on TTG as he chases the hake west of the Scillies.

Google changes images display!

Out of the blue, Google have made a change to the way the bigger images are displayed on their Blogger platform(which Through the Gaps uses). As a result, when a small or thumbnail image is clicked, all the images in that post appear in a 'lightbox'. Unfortunately, the settings currently employed by Blogger mean that the new images in the lightbox are only marginally bigger. I have managed to manually edite some of the latest posts to counteract the affect that the new changes have made. Here's hoping that when the back-room boys at the Blogger development team are back behind their workstations on Monday morning that they fix this bug!

Seth Lakeman at St Ives' Festival - you missed it!

 Sold out almost on the day tickets went on sale, virtuoso violinist folk singer Seth Lakeman blew the roof off the Guildhall in St Ives last night. A few lucky people were there to hear the man himself.

Ajax AH32, the first fishing boat in England to use Twitter!

Ajax AH32, the Newlyn gillnetter that fishes exclusively for hake has become the first fishing vessel in England to use Twitter to report her daily catches live from sea. Skipper Alan Dwan from Waterford in Ireland will test the technology next week as part of an ongoing campaign to create a stronger market for his catch.  

The Ajax's Fisherman owner, Andrew Pascoe is one of several Newlyn skippers striving for accreditation for a fish species that seems to have dipped under the horizon for the country's top chefs and restaurants. Probably the most versatile fish landed on the market at Newlyn - and definitely the most underrated - hake prices are often lower now than they were 20 years ago as this invoice for a landing made in 1991 shows!

These prices are for fish weighed in stones - the 2-4 kilo hake at £10 per stone equate to around £1.50 (10/6.2)  per kilo - which is what these fish have been making during the summer months!

With a smaller fleet working the fishery hake catches remain steady throughout the year ensuring continuity of supply with the net boats fishing over the neap tides. One possible new market now being explored is for deep fried hake - the local fish and chip shop Lewis' can't sell their new line quick enough!


Through the Gaps has created a special, "Newlyn Hake Fishing" Twitter alert box on the home page of the blog - hopefully skipper Alan will find the time in between hauling and shooting to tweet direct from the wheelhouse!

The forecast, rain, wind, sun, wind, rain, sun, wind, rain.........not good.

 Heavy skies herald a weekend of unsettled weather and worse to follow.......

 though for a brief moment the morning sky clears and the moon can still be seen 180˚ from the sun.......

 works still seems to be underway on the inshore trawler Cathryn........

 there's a new face on the harbour team giving the fish market a washdown........

Ben Gunn's Blue Rocks enjoys a blast from the sun low in the sky.........

 and the same light gives the harbour water a certain intenseness........

 out of the blue, with the sun still shining down comes the rain......

 and all hands leave the quay.......

including Maria and Eve from Exeter Camera Club guided to a dry spot by the ever-courteous Lionel in the middle of his twice daily log of the vessels moored in the harbour, a practice that has been carried out for well over one hundred years........

 after taking ice, the Govenek of Ladram, Newlyn's and one of the UK's biggest gill netters, heads for a temporary berth to take on grub for the next trip....... 

 and moors on the end of the new quay........

 now the rain has stopped Bracken s able to get back to a big mending job, ably assisted by the old man, yet again brought out of retirement when needed........

 changeable weather is the order of the day.......

 though for one of the harbour's shrimp fishermen the pickings are average........

 another of the netter fleet prepare for sailing as the boxes go back aboard the Silver Dawn........

 a more contrite looking Scott these days waits impatiently in readiness to sail for the first time in nearly five months now that his father's boat......... 

  the Filadelfia is ready for sea again......

 good to see the slipper-skipper ready for the off........

 another boat nearing the end of her refit, the William Samson Stevenson still needs work before her derricks are fitted.......

 looking none the worse after her little mishap earlier in the week, the Lisa Jacqueline (ex-Hubenada) heads for another berth.......

 those gulls leave their mark in more than one way it seems.......... 

there's always workshop work.......

unlike those in the foreground, the netting fleet will have to put up with wind, rain and seas that make life very uncomfortable as they fish over the neap tide, mos of them working at least 100 miles west of the Scillies.

Mount's Bay - Benjamin Warner exhibits at the Lighthouse Gallery.

mount's bay - benjamin warner at the Lighthouse Gallery, Penzance
17th September - 1st October.

 Light captured on canvas - JMW Turner set the 19th Century art world ablaze with his daring applications of paint on canvas to render coastal scenes with that special light which fills the dawn sky - ......... 

 today, Falmouth based Benjamin Warner turns his attentions to Mount's Bay and, in particular, Newlyn in an exhibition that could have been entitled, Through the Gaps........

 with richly warm, heavily worked canvasses which successfully capture that same intensity of light which has drawn so many artists to Newlyn in the footsteps of Stanhope Forbes........

 some obviously inspired by the view across to the Mount in the minutes before the sun breaks from the horizon........

 to the warm glow of a breaking dawn where the sun picks out an individual boat (in this case David Steven's Crystal Sea II) ..........

 variations in the weather bring variations of light as this visiting yacht heads for the gaps on a more sombre morning.......

 or the Sarah Beth leaves on what promises to be a cooler day......... 

 while in one of the larger works, the crabber Girl Pamela becomes the centre of attention captured in the gaps around four thirty in the morning at the height of the summer, you can feel the heat of the impending day.......

 the layered effect is achieved by repeatedly working the canvas with heavily laden brush strokes that are then scraped back and worked again.........

 to give the deep, rich underlying tones depth........

 that intensify the lightest tones to create the illusion of those early morning scenes........

 elsewhere, turpentine has been mixed to dilute the paint and create those spurious cloud formations that gather over the Bay.........

upstairs at the gallery is a canvas capturing the view over St Ives and the bay beyond.


The show at the Lighthouse Gallery, Penzance runs until the 1st of October, many of the works on display have already been marked with a red dot - a sure sign of the popularity and recognition that Benjamin Warner's works deserve. 

Newlyn Festival of the Arts - Open Studios this weekend.

Open Studios

Time of opening: 11:00 to 16:00
Friday 16th,
Saturday 17th,
Sunday 18th

Trewarveneth Street Studios
Studio no.1 - Rose Hilton | Studio no.2 - Nicola Bealing | Studio no.3 - Gareth Mc Cory | Studio no.4 - John Mitchell | Studio no.5 - Phil Medley | Studio no.6 - Jason Walker

Orchard Cottage Garden Studios, Bellevue Anne Metcalfe, Roy MacInnes, Mark Nicholls, Maureen Semmons, Nigel Haward

10 Barlandhu, The Coombe Jim Whitlock
36a The Strand Susannah Clemence Fradgan House, The Fragdan Diana Dixon,
49 New Road Joy Batten
Chymorvah, Chywoone Hill (no.42) Ken Gill
Trevatha, Faugan Lane (off Gurnick Road) Audrey & Bernard Evans
Pentire (Boase Street) Sarah Williams
Orchard Cottage Gardens (Bellevue) Penwith College Students
1 Trevince Villas, Gwavas Estate Alan MacKay
Unit 4 The Strand (off Gurnick Road) Lincoln Kirby-Bell
The Copper Works Unit 8, Wesley Place Michael Johnson

Enquiries
Art Events: - Annie Metcalfe - phone: 01736 351937
Film: Margaret Mitchell - phone: 01736 330487
Music: Maura Thompson - phone: 01736 363074