Jetty jettisoned by Court

Helford fishermen lose their fight to have a jetty and access road built in Helford Village. See one of the many stories in the national press reporting on the decision - click here.

Spirit of Mystery update

AMSA (Aussie equivalent of the MCA in the UK) has decided to evacuate crewman Mark Maidment from the Mystery at the earliest opportunity, around midnight tonight GMT. She is heading northwards to get within range of an SAR helicopter to airlift the injured Mark ashore, from there the boat will make for Melbourne as planned.

Spiriit of Mystery knocked flat in storm off Australia - Pete Goss and crew make for Melbourne

Spirit of Mystery's current position off Australia.

Blog followers keeping an eye on the Spirit of Mystery blog this week may have wondered at times why there were no updates since the boat was known to enter stormy waters. It turns out that the boat was hit by a large wave and knocked flat, crew member Mark suffered a broken leg at the time. The boat is said to be making good progress towards her destination and that Mark has had his leg put in a splint - all hands are said to be in good spirits despite the weather conditions which have now improved. We wish them well.

Keep up with the latest news from the Mystery blog here.

Scavengers

The Hurst Point, a Ro-Ro merchant vessel on commision to the Royal Navy takes part in a short exercise off Penzance harbour before heading off to Marchwood Military Port......
most of the Newlyn fleet are back in port as a patch of strong wind passes over the south west....
time for the Jacoba to get in some maintenance work on her dredges....
on a Wednesday morning with no fish to pseak of on the market the local seabird population are left to scaveninging from the rubbish drums on the quays....
including this unusual Arctic gull, easily distinguishable buy the all-white plumage....
and watched by one of the many regular visitors on the quay.....
she has now joined the small number of boats currently at rest in the harbour down by the iceworks berth.....
a market devoid of boats this morning......
catching the early morning sun the Mission's galleon faces the strong nor'westerly winds....

which herald the passing heavy showers acroos the back of the Mount.

Less than 1000 miles to go for Pete Goss and the boys on the Spirit

After sailing from one side of the world to the other, Pete Goss and his gallant crew must be full of anticipation as they tick off the last significant milestone in their epic adventure re-creating the voayge of the Mystery originally made on 1854. With under 1000 miles to go and the port of Melbourne making preparations for their arrival the end is in sight - almost literally. However, before then they will have to contend with a vicious little blow due to cross their paths today as indicated in the chart below - courtesy of the Australian Governemnt's Bureau of Metoreology.


South of the equator, the wind travels in a clockwise direction around a Cyclone - a useful explanation of how winds behave in general below the median line can be found here.

Monk tales

The Ajax did her best last week to combat poor prices on the market at newlyn, but it is the same story everywhere as both France and Spain are awash with hake - PH and BM markets are all suffering poor prices for prime with Newlyn making a little more on average, as much a sign of the times as the time of year when fishing for soles etc is heavy.....
crew from the Ajax's old fleet partner, the CarolH sort their fish on the market - another vessel that uses protective plastic sheets to cover the fish in the boxes at sea.....
with a big trip to land its a race against time before the buyers turn up.....
as skipper Phil Mitchell gives the boys a quick briefing on what needs to be done before they clear off the market and head back to sea for the last half of the tide.....
weighing up good sized pollack for the CarolH.....
down the market Mr Turner keeps the bids coming.....
and Ocean Fish seal the deal on the cuttles again...
so Edwin only has a few moments for a quick cuppa before heading back to the bidding....
a few of the harbour crabs and resident congers will be enjoying this monk head soon....
over on Wherry Town car park another load of steel girders bound for the new Penwith College building site.

In like a lamb?

With the forecast for tomorrow looking relatively pleasant an old saying is recalled, "In like a lamb and out like a lion"......

Plenty of work going down on the Trelawney Fish beamer, George Johannes
early Saturday morning and the CKS is already shipping her trip ashore and off to the cold store......
bags of frozen bait head downwards to the deck of this small crabber......
the MCA have posted a quick reminder to anyone interested in a career at sea that they can get 100% free training in the mandatory (that means you MUST have them) first aid, sea safety & survival and firefighting certificates, an opportunity not to be missed.....
more evidence of the work on the George Johannes, a new set of main trawl sheaves.