Fishing on despite the weather.

 Weather data taken from the Sevenstones Lightship over the last 24 hours shows the wind blowing consistently and increasing in speed with gusts reported over 60 mph this morning....... 

as the wind strength increases so does the height of the waves........

tracks from the French fleet of fishing boats show that many are still engaged in fishing on both the north and south coasts of Cornwall.........

although the Vierges de L'Ocean is seen here making her way to Mount's Bay and dodging for a few hours off Newlyn (unable to enter as there would not be enough depth of water at the entrance to the harbour) before entering at around 8 am this morning.

A trawler's dream, precision towing.

Using VesselTracker's AIS it is easy to see just how accurate a ship can be steered using modern electronics, GPS, an autopilot, bow thrust and propellor control! This the the oil survey veesel Polarcus Nadia working off the African coast. Like so many deck crew and officers on survey and research vessels, an ex-fisherman from Newlyn has been working on this particular ship, one of eight custom built mulit-function 3D seismic survey vessels built for the Dubai based Polarcus Company.

Animated virtual tour of a typical Polarcus survey vessel.

Contrast the precision of those tracks with these of the Lub Senior working her seine net in the English Channel today.


Pete Eddy, who used to run Kernow Electronics from Newlyn recalls the early days of digital chart plotting on fishing boats using a Shipmate plotter:

"looking at the tows from the survey ship reminded me you used to get an output from the shipmate plotter that went into the autopilot. Some netters used it to go to a waypoint for the gear. Taking out tide, wind and other variables, saved a load on fuel. We did an experiment with Mick Faulner, Golden Bells I think, and could have been Boy Gary. The Boy Gary set a course on the pilot, Golden Bells set a waypoint into the plotter, by the time they got to the Lizard, Boy Gary was a mile adrift!

2012 weather off to a poor start.

The forecast for today is none too 'cracky'.......

with three Breton boats working around the Land's End area despite the high winds and seas.

First fish auction for 2012.

The Cornishman was one of five beam trawlers to sail over the festive period to give the market some fish to sell this morning......

a handful of day boats managed to sneak out between blows, a dozen boxes of big bass from the  Falmouth boat Victoria Anne promise to make good money.......

a fresh tubs of cuttles keep the boats in the black.......

while outside the wind howls through the open market doors.......

and rain lashes the quays........

all set for the first trip of the New Year........

likewise the beam trawler Sapphire.......

outside the market, at least the days are now getting longer........

but not before the winter gales bring down a branch or two.

New Year, your starter for ten - fish.

 Bubbles.......

 home cured gravadlax......

 on blinis.........

crayfish and potato salad from le Caprice and AA Gill.

A year in Newlyn - July - December 2011.

Open publication 

See the year in Newlyn page by page from July to December.

A year in Newlyn - January to June 2011.

Open publication
See the year in Newlyn page by page from January to June.