Fish much in the news today.

The Norse - Many of the Hull deep-sea freezer fleet fished for mackerel off Cornwall in the late 1970s and early '80s.

With what was once one of the UK's biggest fish markets (Fishgate) in Hull, closing its doors and then the news that the UK Government is aiming to source fish consumed in the public sector sustainably - fish makes a big splash across the news desks and, for a change, there's not a man-eating shark in sight!


Hull and Newlyn:

Newlyn could only look over the big stern and freezer trawlers that descended on Mount's Bay in the 70s mackerel boom - they were too big to come alongside the harbour's quays. With their ability to fish in Icelandic waters severely curtailed, the fleets of big black, blue and yellow company boats donned their mid-water gear and entered a whole new world chasing gigantic shoals of mackerel that spread themselves over the Western Approaches. Fishing in these warmer climes must have been a doddle compared to dealing with life above 60º North - the main problems stemming from having to fish within the close confines of dozens of other like-minded trawlers, Scottish mackerel pursers, local fishing boats and, not least, the busy shipping traffic off the Lizard and Land's End. These boats fished at night, when mackerel shoals lifted off the bottom and rose to the surface - the skippers would talk to one another on '69', one of the VHF working channels; two names come to mind, "Fookin' 'ell 'oward" and "Fookin' 'ell Trevor".


One of the 'old school' aboard these boats may well have been Jack Nelson, as featured in this carefully crafted cameo of life as a deep-sea fisherman by Hull writer, Russ Litten - you can almost taste the salty spray as Jack recalls his first day at sea as a 'deckie learner'!

"He’d only intended to go for a piss. But now Jack Nelson was spread-eagled on the deck of the St Arcadius, smashed under the steering quadrant by a heavy wave of water that had crashed over the side, his barely shaved fifteen year old face inches away from being chewed off by grinding gears.

He weighed up his rather limited options. Shouting for help was no good; the rain was battering the ship like machine gun fire, the wind was shrieking like a demented banshee and besides, every time he opened his mouth to scream it was flooded with salt water. His freezing fists wrapped themselves grimly around the first solid thing to hand as Jack lay there, buffeted around like a rag doll, every last ounce of decreasing strength in his body straining to avoid certain mutilation. Jack wasn’t a religious man, but praying for dear life seemed like the best idea by default. God, or Neptune, must have been listening on that squalid November night somewhere in the Northern Arctic Waters. Eventually, after what seemed several life-times, another mallet blow of water knocked his hands open and the trawler reared up in the booming waves, sending Jack sliding back down the deck towards the aft and the galley entrance, where he’d gingerly emerged, clutching his bladder, some forty minutes previously.

The cook looked up from his pan of stew as the trembling young lad collapsed through the door and started spewing up bellyfuls of salt and bile. “Jesus bloody Christ!” he yelled. “Yer little bastard! Not on my clean floor!” And, to his utter horror, Jack found himself booted back out onto the deck, the galley door slammed firmly shut behind him, the cook’s curses ringing in his already pounding eardrums.

Azab 2011 - and Solo Sails has a vested interest.

Two yachts currently competing in the great North Atlantic Azab race - Azores and Back - have suits of sails courtesy of Solo Sails.

First to arrive in the Azores was Comedy of Errors and skipper Sam White, not being one to miss an opportuntiy to live up to the boat's name, managed to secure thrid place in Class 3 amongst for the entire race until the last section - when he took the boat the wrong way round the island - nice one Sam!

Bladerunner at the start of Azab 2011.

Second up is Bladerunner, skippered by Steve Watson and currently plagued by the lack of a crucial ingredient for a yacht race:

 boat+ water-wind=no go

  Bladerunner is currently 36.4 miles form the finish line and making 0.3knots - hold tight Steve

Solo Sails provides Newlyn's first live web cam - see the web cam page above!

A big thank you to Andrew 'Woody' Wood for coming up trumps and providing 'Through the Gaps' with a live web cam view of the harbour. Now, visitors can check on the web cam for an up-to-the-minute view over the marina side of the harbour and Mount's Bay beyond - plenty of sun might mean there's a big queue at Jelberts! The web cam is in their workshop above Cosalt - local fishermen will remember this as the room where 'Lofty' and the boys learned their trade servicing and repairing inflatable liferafts.

Solo Sails are a small sail loft based in Cornwall specialising in bespoke performance racing sails, durable cruising sails and custom canvaswork. Their sails are individually designed and built by us in the UK using the very best sailmaking technology and materials available.

Their fresh approach and experience with racing sails for shorthanded offshore events such as the Mini Transat, OSTAR, RB&I, AZAB, Fastnet etc. results in race sails that are light, fast and durable. Yet because they are a small loft, they can keep our prices exceptionally low at the same time as giving customers' sails their full attention.

The design, thinking and build methods are a fusion of traditional techniques with modern technology and materials, which means that they can also build durable cruising sails that will survive the toughest conditions yet still perform to a boats' full potential.

The boss, Andy Wood is always happy to have a 'no hassles' chat about a new project or repair needs, so feel free to call, email or if you are in the area pop in to see the man for a chat.

For those who don't know, this is a QR code - with QR app on your mobile phone use the phone's camera to read the contents.

Tel: +44 (0) 1736 366004
Mob: +44 (0) 7843 229941

Email: info@solosails.com

Solo Sails
The Loft
74 The Strand
Newlyn
Penzance
Cornwall
TR18 5HA

African Voices heard in Newlyn and now the world.

During the African Voices tour, three West African fishermen came to the UK to reveal the harsh reality behind our hunger for fish: while their communities rely on the seas for vital protein, our industrial-sized European fishing fleets are pillaging their waters, leaving little fish to make a living from - let alone feed their families.

For the UK leg our intrepid trio of fisherfolk leaders - Issa, Celestino and Abdou - took their stories to the Houses of Parliament, Billingsgate Fish Market, Selfridges' Project Ocean, plus met fellow small scale fishermen in Newlyn, Cornwall.

The video  follows the three's journey and gives chance for them to tell the shocking truth behind Europe's incessant over fishing.

Barra Brenn update.

Stern view of the Barra Brenn with the net in question on her net drum.

A fine of £13,500 was the result of the Narra Brenn's appearance in court this week. The main problem for the skipper was that the diameter of twine used in the codend was deemed to be too thick, thereby reducing the mesh size. This was a brand new codend from the factory and no doubt Art Bigouden will be taking the matter further.

As a highly respected trawl manufacturing company, Art Bigouden are not in the business of making gear that will land fishermen like the skipper of the Barra Brenn in court, so they will no doubt be looking very closely into how this resulted in what would appear to be a very unfortunate incident.

ENTRE_NOUS : Pêche en pays bigouden by hdzprod

This video chronicles a trip (maree) aboard the Entre Nous - a similar vessel to the Barra Brenn. The codend is that part of the net at the end of the trawl - where all the fish (and aboard this boat, langoustine as well) end up as the trawl is towed along the sea bed. The video clearly shows the cramped conditions in which the crew handle the gear, especially when mending the trawl netting (which happens all too often on a trawler) ona heaving deck and when the catch is gutted, washed and put down below in the fishroom.

There is surely a big difference between those who set out to deliberately flout the law and those who find themselves on the wrong side through circimstances beyond their control - every fisherman must feel that they already suffer from a good deal more regulation over and above those in other industries - monitored at sea by warship, plane and satellite, required to fill out the EU logbook on an almost hourly basis all while safely navigating a small vessel amongst today's heavily congested shipping lanes - and that's before they even think about actually catching any fish!

Bisque and Barra Gwen.

There are plenty of variations on the classic Bisque recipe - but this simple thick soup is a great way to make use of the leftover shells from crab, langoustine and spider crab (lobster, velvet crab and crayfish too) - after sweating finely chopped onion, celery, carrot and a bayleaf in 3oz of butter and the broken shells (bash them down further with the end of a rolling pin) and add a shot of brandy and allow it to evaporate then add 4oz of toms, a dash of tom puree and a glass of dry vermouth (Shiaohsing or white wine will do) and reduce for a while before adding 4oz of rice 2.5 pints of fish or chicken stock (avoid using stock cubes for this classic dish!) - add a good pinch of cayenne pepper and bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes before using a blender to liquidize the shells.........

if your blender is not up to the task then make the best job possible breaking down the shells with the rolling pin in the early stages.......

 and pass the cooling soup through a sieve or conical strainer - pressing the liquid through the sieve with the back of a wooden spoon.......

after straining, add 4fl oz of cream or crème frâiche and give a quick whiz........

simply serve with white or brown bread and butter - barra gwen or barra brenn - and a squeeze of lemon - magnifique!

Brown bread in hot water - undersize net!

The skipper of the Guilvenec registered trawler, Barra Brenn (Breton for Brown bread- one of several in the Bread fleet) was in court for allegedly fishing with undersize mesh in his trawl........

the skipper is none too pleased as the trawl in question was brand new straight from the manufacturers, obviously bought on the assumption that the net would conform to the legal mesh size requirements.