Traditionally, big spring tides are when the deeper drafted boats take the hard to scrub off below the waterline and/or give the hull a fresh coat of anti-fouling paint...
weed grows very quickly at this time of year and those boats that spend much of their time steaming to and fro the fishing grounds like these crabbers need to do so as efficiently as possible - heavy weed growth can reduce the speed of a boat by two or more knots and also increases fuel consumption......
this is what the hull below the waterline should look like...
which means the crabber Bon Accord can get out to sea more quickly...
the St Ives based Keriolet caught fire in the harbour last week...
and has been rowed round to Newlyn for fire damage assessment and repairs...
though skipper Traz's first Keriolet was a 60' ex Lorient trawler, which he trawler and netted with over 20 years before she was decommissioned in the 90s...
Tom's Harvest Reaper sits neatly against the quay ready for work...
the area known as 'the hard' is now showing severe signs of erosion as a combination of scouring from the severe storms in recent ears and the odd boat running aground at inopportune moments...
has led to a banking up of silt in some places...
and exposed rocks in others...
fresh in from sea to land for Monday's market, the flagship of the Stevenson fleet; the Cornishman waits for a lorry to arrive to get her boxes offloaded to the market coldstore.
