Afloat at last!

Seems there is more to the excavations than shifting shingle, looks like there is a new watercourse being put in place for the boating pool stream....
not often that a boat has two names, in spite of the frequent showers, Squirrel, the local signwriter's efforts are now on show on the stern of the Emma Luoise, here watched over by Emma....
Tom's Harvest Reaper now has a new Spencer Carter net drum on her stern....
Andrew Pasoce and the Inspiration's owner engage in some quiet evening discourse on the state of the harbour developments......
alongside the now floating boat whose timbers have almost been staunched....
a brace of inshore trawler skippers pose for the camera.

Firing on all cylinders!

These pots must be getting impatient alongside the Emma J......
time for the liferafts to have their annual service aboard the Sapphire, a diificult task swingiong them ashore made to look easy by Lofty and Co......
in the workshop last minute adjustments are being made to the Stuart & Turner engine being prepared for the Inspiration......
including the tappet clearance above the valves.....
then its outside and time to drop the de-compressors while the engine is turned over by hand....
and in a move guaranteed to endear himself to the neighbours - there she fires!
Brittania IV was one of the few boats to land mid-tide this morning.....
the weather this year has piled shingle on the beach at Wherry Town right up to the pathway....
so, it's time to get the JCB in to shift it back down the beach.....
and if you are in the area, make a date with the Raft Race this weekend - a real family affair and a great spectacle.....

Watch a short animation of the motor being fired up by hand - there's plenty of smoke - and it's not from Nick's pipe this time!

Not just any red mullet, these are.....

Two graders are kept busy this morning working their way through a full trip from the Billy Rowney......
with 115 boxes from the first week of twin-rig trials aboard the Alison Kay still to be sorted on this Monday morning market....
their boxes are tallied with the date caught, species, size and weight to the nearest gram aboard the boat....
Filadelfia and Billy Rowney were just two of the fleet to land this morning....
when it comes to quality fish, red mullet are hard to beat, these perfect examples still retain their true gold colour - try the Summer House Restaurant in Penzance and let the chef/patron, Ciro Zaino an Italian chef who really knows how to prepare these fish tickle your taste buds!

Alison Kay in Newlyn

Back in after the first week of twin-rig trials, the Alison Kay waits to land her fish...

there's something unusual in the water in front of the Sowenna on the slip...

part of the Alison Kay's catch, discarded fishing gear of every description, monofilament nylon gill net, monofilament Spanish longline, polypropylene and nylon trawl net...

view of the working deck aboard the twin-tigger...

most of the visiting yachts are serious long distance vessels...

closer inspection reveals the floating object to be SS22, the Inspiration, now fully submerged waiting for her timbers to swell and tighten up.

The rain it cometh...

Under dark and brooding skies the classic Art Deco pool on the prom has no takers today...
even though the water is warm enough .......
there's a couple of sharks after this gull riding out the near gale-force Westerly winds.....
two classic St Ives registered restored boats, the Ripple rests astern of the newly launched Inspriation.....
the Lyonnesse still has her ring net up through the power block.

Frustration becomes Inspiration

block boxes of frozen bait wait on the quay for the dom Bosc....
the first clear sky for some time makes perfect evening for a launch party.....
as the latest boat to enter the Newlyn fleet arrives on the back of a trailor, Cap'n Keast's latest mobile harbour fish box in front.....
the aptly named, Inspiration, a nine month project finally sees the boat about to enter the water....
with a helping hand from Dick Ede who will take command once her engine has been fitted.....
owner, Nick Howell, in a previous life, local fish merchant and more latterly owner of the Pilchard Museum has had the boat commissioned to fish for line caught mackerel, squid and lobsters - the shellfish being targeted with withy pots made the traditional way.......
all hands give the punt a lift.....
and pretty as a picture she looks in the evening glow.....
pleasant enough while two men in a boat, Nick and chief carpenter Cap'n Keast wait for the incoming tide to lift her off the trailor.....
just about to float with some additional ballast in the stern.....
then, once afloat, she inevitably takes water - usual for a boat that has been allowed to dry out on land - eventually the timbers should swell and fill any gaps between the planks.....

Watch a short video of the whole affair -

Lyonnesse lands over 11 tons of Cornish Sardines

Sowenna up on the slip, not the best place for a netter to be on the first day of a neap tide (netters cannot work over spring tides as the nets get laid down by the speed of the water and do not 'fish' well)...

 

Mr Turner holding court and being the harbour tour guide for the morning on the day that the....

latest addition to the fleet, the Lyonnesse bagged over 10 tons of Cornish Sardines which she seems to carry well in the insulated FalFish tubs...

her deck crane, used at sea to handle the ring-net, acts as cranning pole to get the fish ashore to be iced...

'ansome Sam passes up a stray sardine on the deck on his way back to the hydraulic arm controls and sorted by crew member Barry Chivers..... even at this state of the tide the crane will reach the quayside.... two up-and-coming fishermen get to give the old man a hand..... by supervising the landing....... a mix of ice and water keep the sardines in tip-top condition, all we need now is some sunshine to warrant firing up the charcoal...

....a sure favourite for the BBQ at this time of year!

watch the landing in progress from the deck of the Lyonnesse.