Lunar Bow passes under Tower Bridge up the Thames.

Tower Bridge was lifted on Monday 6 June for the 70m long pelagic trawler ‘Lunar Bow’ to berth alongside HMS Belfast.

Captained by Alexander Buchan Jr. from Peterhead, ‘Lunar Bow’ was in London during Seafarers Awareness Week (6-12 June), the annual campaign to promote the UK’s dependence as an island nation on ships and seafarers.

Lunar Bow’s visit was organised by The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen and the Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association.

Visit http://www.lunarfreezing.co.uk/ for more information.

Cornish tuna in the vanguard of sustainable eating campaign.

Quentin Knights, skipper of the Cornish tuna boat, Ben Loyal.

Eating Out magazine ran a story on just how the catering world is set to deal with the demand for sustainably caught sea food.

"M&J Seafood has been promoting albacore tuna caught off the Cornish coast. It has an exclusive agreement with two Cornish boats to take the majority of their catch for the UK foodservice sector. Last year it supplied about 45 tonnes and this year will be a similar amount. Berthet says albacore offers chefs a responsible alternative to bluefin and a slightly different presentation to yellowfin, but it is a different fish altogether and more suited to cooking rather than raw for sushi. This year M&J decided to put any trim left over into albacore fish cakes."

See the rest of the Article here.

Enjoy the winning Great Bristish Mernu at No6 with Paul Ainsworth and support the work of Newlyn Fishermen's Mission.

Paul Ainsworth at No6 Padstow.

After his successful outing at this year's Great British Menu final which culminated in a banquet at Leadenhall Market in London, No6's chef, Paul Ainsworth is holding a banquet of his own this Autumn. Diners will get the chance to enjoy Paul's dishes created for the GBM challenge on the 19th and 20th of October.

With as much local produce as possible sourced from inside Cornwall the restaurant is a celebration of seasonal Cornish food cooked by a passionate chef who has added to Padstow and Cornwall's reputation as the next best place after London in the must eat category of many critics columns.

Two days of cooking will see 20% of all ticket sales heading for Paul's favourite local charities, the RNLI and the Fishermen's Mission - guests from both organisations were invited to the GBM banquet earlier this year

To read one diner's review look no further than Elizabeth on Food's recent post here.

To reserve a table at No6 for the banquet and enjoy the winning menu head for the restaurant's web site here.

Full house tonight.

A big tide and a some inclement weather sees the harbour's quays lined with boats in for the weekend.

Padstow Pirate

WALKING the Cornish stretch of England's 1015km South West Coast Path in 1987, I reached Padstow village, where a ferry is required to cross the Camel River. It was market day and stalls crowded the quay. A local's outstretched hand pointed to a ferry sign where stone steps led to a smallish wooden boat.


I plonked my backpack against a bulkhead and joined the other commuters. A leathery, wiry Cornishman, revealed as the skipper, satisfied himself there were no more passengers and we motored off, bon-voyaged by discordant seagulls. I relaxed, confident of rejoining the trail before the sun dipped near the yardarm.


We took a diagonal route. I assumed the skipper was navigating obstacles and would soon tack toward the opposite bank, but he continued in a beeline to the river mouth. As the headland loomed, the knot of uncertainty tightened in my stomach. I turned to a passenger and asked, "This is the ferry, isn't it?".


"No. It's a fishing trip . . . looking for mackerel."


After initial surprise, I saw the humour in my mistake, but this was an inconvenient diversion. I approached the skipper, expecting sympathetic ears and possible transportation to the other side.


"Too bad," he blurted before I had time to properly explain myself. "You're on board and going fishing."


His accent reminded me of the stereotypical Disneyland pirate.


"Didn't you see my backpack?"


"Plenty of people bring packs with them."


Yes, I thought, those who think they're catching a ferry.


"You are paying the four quid, and that's it."


I returned to my seat and went with the flow, which in this case meant a couple of kilometres out to sea.


I had no interest in fishing, but the skipper's sidekick - his son, about 11 years old - offered me line and bait, and I acquiesced.


The weather was fine, the sea calm and the shoreline provided a pictorial backdrop. The fishing was surprisingly easy and the mackerel plentiful.


The South West Coast Path originally served as a route for the coastguard in pursuit of smugglers. A deceptively hilly trail, one calculation has it that walking its length is the equivalent of climbing Everest's height four times.


There is accommodation along the route, but I would have to camp this night. We continued rolling in mackerel like tuna fishermen, and the skipper's son gathered the catch. Eventually we pulled up anchor. The son divvied up the fish and asked how many I caught. I had no idea, so said: "Twenty." He wrapped them in newspaper. The skipper softened and complimented me on my catch. Then we returned to shore.


Lugging 20 mackerel in a backpack would quickly become a smelly proposition and I had no desire to be Pied Piper to a flock of seagulls. I approached a local restaurant in hope of a sale.


"How much do you want?" I was asked. I told them four quid would do it. Done deal.


I returned to searching for the ferry departure point and discovered it several hundred metres downstream from the sign. On a sandbar.

Story courtesy of Paul Spinks writing in that great antipodean rag, The Australian.

Newlyn Harbour time-lapse movie.

With a few tweaks made to the webcam software that streams images over the web, a time-lapse movie can be created. In this instance, the first twenty four hours of coverage captured dramatic looking skies and the spectacle of the Govenek of Ladram coming down the slip and the Billy Rowney going up.

FFFFFoul Friday

With the Solo Sails' wencam prodviding a new window on the world of Newlyn harbour, there's a distinctly unseasonal air to the weather today summed up in one word, FOUL!