Golowan tomorrow, wet tonight!

The annual Golowan or Mazey Day Festival hits Penzance this weekend - as many young children are involved and much of the action is in and around the streets and outdoors, everyone will be hoping the sun will shine......but for Friday night it's damp drizzle all the way.......

as this shot show looking down the length of the New Quay to the giant scalloper, Jacoba berthed at the end.......
W&S's plea to 'Save our Fish' reminds visitors of the perilous state of play at the moment. The lifeboat-house flag flies at half-mast for one of the West Country's most well liked fisherman, Bobby 'Boxer' Laity who was buried in Porthleven today - for many years he fished with the Marina....
that Finning service van is here again for final checks on a main engine....
one little splash of red reflected on the quay......
along with some green to even things out.

Antipodean presence on the Billy Rowney

Aboard the Billy Rowney, Dan is kept busy with stitching a piece of sheet netting in the cod end......
doing her bit (maybe someone could supply a name?) and 12500 miles from home, Norwich University Fisheries Technology Degree student, Tabitha Abernathy an Aussie relative of young Mr Downing brightens up the working deck......
the firm's boxes wait to go back aboard....
beam-eye view of proceedings down on the deck.....
down the quay, there's a whole container of oil going aboard the Cornishman, maybe it's recycled chip oil?.....
as more boxes go ashore over on the North Quay....

follow some deck action aboard the Billy Rowney - if you look carefully through the galley window you'll just make out the Aussie cousin!.

Where there's The Will

Two insulated fish tubs with dividers to reduce the 'free surface' effect and four hydraulic reels grace the transom of the Nova Spero, currently undergoing the trnsformation from gill-netter to tuna pole & line boat..... [on Breton tuna boats there are three lines rigged across the stern known affectionately as, 'Mother in Law', 'Father in Law' and the 'arshole' in the middle!]
the poles for the lines are already in place.....
which flag is this aboard the FN landing craft HMS Albion?.......
bit easier on this one on her stern......
both A3 and A4 are in Newlyn on passage.......
the business end, well both busienss ends of the landing craft.....
on passage, the RNLI'srefief lifeboat The Will enters the gaps in the evening....

and straight into the glare of the sun for the old man.

Fire Safety Day in Newlyn, July 3rd.

A Fire Safety Day is being held in Newlyn on Thursday July, 3 aimed at decked fishing vessels under 16.5 meters.

This is a joint initiative by the Cornwall Fisheries Resource Centre (CFRC), MCA, MAIB, Cornwall Fire Brigade, Ocean Engineering (FIRE) Ltd, Newline Fuels and the RNLI.

St Georges through the gaps

Making her way in through the gaps, the St Georges....
landing to the side of a vivier lorry, the Dom Bosco....
two different cats at the end of the pontoons, the Explorer with a distinctly scandinavian heritage....
back up on the slip, the Emma Louise.....
and just to get any local anglers excited, there is a small shoal of enormous grey mullet cruising in the shallow waters of the harbour at the moment.

Watch the guys on the inshore trawler, Jessica Grace gut their last haul of fish, mainly haddock.

Newlyn Harbour 1928 - recognise these boats?

This photo, kindly sent in by Karen Seibert from Florida, USA shows three luggers in the foreground and a host of french crabbers inside Newlyn Harbour. The picture is dated 1928 - perhaps someone can help identify the local boats?.....
Built by Kittos of Porthleven 17 years before the previous photo and hoping to make a return to Nelwyn during the Fish Festival this year, the Girl Sybil. She is currently undergoing restoration up at Noss Marina, Dartmouth....
more information on the project is here and some previous history (search for Girl Sybil) here and here.......
several hundred small inshore boats like this were the mainstay of the local fleet in Mount's Bay at the height of the mackerel fishery back in the 1970s and early 80s.....
down the pontoon berths it seems Grimmy is still doing well with his handmade dog leads......
Defiant waits at the end of the New Quay.....

while across the harbour some of the laid up Stevenson fleet are back in tier.

Helston anglers brave the rain

Can't be long before the CarolH sails as a few more bundles of turbot gear go aboard......
flaming June it might not be, but the tuna boys on the Nova Spero are nearly rigged and keen to go....
the Jannie En Klaas is part way through her paint job and repairs....
two youngsters with the visiting Helston Anglers club head up the quay with a fish supper from Joules chip shop....
while the rest carry on fishing.....

this time it's Roz who catches yet another wrasse.....
the woodwork for the lugger, Ripple is nearing completion....
and the Lyonesse has a deck full of bins in readiness for those summery Cornish Sardines.