Shades of the Icelandic Cod Wars!

Hauling the trawl, and then the skipper appears to have had enough....


footage before and after the collision.......

The BBC carries a story covering the video footage leaked to Google's Youtube site.

Ties between China and Japan have been strained by a territorial row over a group of islands, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China. Here, the BBC looks at the background to the row.

Fryderyk Chopin update.

The 36 trainees who were taking part on a four month sailing trip to the Caribbean on board the "Fryderyk Chopin" are to return home. They are currently staying at a hostel in Penzance, Cornwall. The European Higher School of Administration and Law in Warsaw, has paid for the kids’ accommodation until Nov 9. If the vessel is repaired in situ, the children will return to carry on their with training cruise to the Caribbean. It has been reported that the "Fryderyk Chopin" might be repaired in the Baltic port of Gdynia, although the children would not be allowed to travel with the damaged ship from Falmouth to Gdynia. Works to repair the damaged masts on the "Fryderyk Chopin" are pending a decision by the ship’s insurers, PZU. Inspectors have been onboard the ship three times to examine the damages, with the ship also having undergone inspections by the Polish Shipping Register. Apart from the masts and rigging, everything else is in working order.


Courtesy of VesselTracker.

The weather situation.

This chart shows the relationship between the wind speed and barometric pressure as the year's deepest area of low pressure traversed the region overnight - just as in the centre of a hurricane, the 'eye' of the storm, the wind decreases to almost nothing as it passes through.......

962 millibars is very low, the chart shows how the wind will have swept in from the south west and now, as the centre passes, the wind veers (counter-clockwise in the Southern hemisphere) north easterly........

the maximum wave height tends to build as the front hits the area - in this case the readings were taken from the Sevenstones Lightship anchored between Land's End and the Scillies.

the first wind bound Breton boat for the winter, the Eridan, is in Newlyn at the moment - she's looking to chase John Dory's off the Scillies once the wind abates.
 

Old fisherman's saying, "Better in looking out than out looking in"

 When the weather is inclement, sat indoors looking out over the sea safe in the comfort of an old arm chair takes some beating - here the only Art Deco cottage on Penzance seafront, a few yards down from the Yacht Inn and Jubilee Pool, provides a change from the traditional Cornisg granite holiday cottage - just the venue for a mystery murder game.......

 it's one of around a dozen period buildings in and around the town.

How long is the shell of a cuttle?

Just started collating data on cuttlefish landings - the messiest measuring job of the lot - hopefully this will provide solid evidence of landings and growth patterns for any future stock assessments - not having a track record can prove catastrophic.......

Jake's old ship continues to land a good mix of quality fish......

though these red  mullet might look the business (and not from the Go for It).......

this is what they can look like when landed in top condition.....

the newly painted letters on the Govenek of Ladram are showing signs of wear from steaming in poor weather it seems.......

five beamers landed to the market this morning, and then one late arrival gets her boxes ashore and not a cuttle is sight......

Tom's watching all points of the compass......

latest job in Penzance Dry Dock is the tall ship, Earl of Pembroke.......

the resident fleet of swans enjoy breakfast in the shore break.......

the old Jamaica registered Sea King, moved to a berth outside the dock for the first time in nearly twenty years!

Fryderyk Chopin moves to a drydock at Falmouth

Picked up by VesselTracker's AIS, the Fryderyk Chopin has been moved to one of Falmouth's huge dry docks.

Not so nero risotto.

 For two people you'll need risotto rice (short grain like arborio) to which finely chopped spring onion or red onion has been added along with garlic to taste.......

 keep adding at least a litre of vegetable stock in the time-honoured risotto cooking fashion (a little at at a time whilst stirring constantly(ish) and near the end of cooking time - approx 15 minutes...... add a fresh copped red chilli and the sliced squid.......

 the chilli needs frying off for 30 seconds.......

and then add the squid for a couple of minutes at high heat - at this time of year an even better dish is to get some of the very much in-season cuttlefish - and even better - make sure you add the ink sac from the cuttle to the rice - forget the unappetising grey look - the flavour of the ink is all.