Plotting the potter.

The Rowse crabber, Intution leaving Newlyn

Just appearing on the chart coming away from Newlyn in the early hours, the crabber Intuition heads back to her fishing ground off Land's End. The AIS clearly shows the ten strings of 95 pots she worked yesterday - right on the edge of the busy shipping lanes. The strings lay east-to-west, and as soon as a string is hauled the boat turns round and shoots them away again. Hauling is done 'head-to-wind', and into the face of the weather. Bigger crabbers can and do fish through weather that would have most boats heading for home.

Cod loins in puff pastry cases

 Two good loins of white fish given a head start in the pan, skin side down until crisp, in this case cod but hake would have been equally as good......

 just gives you time to roll out tea plate sized bases and prick around the centres to prevent the dough from rising.........

place the fish on the dough bases and top of with a salsa of roasted pepper, onion and aubergine - courgette maybe and a few slices of chorizo given a quick singe in the fry pan to release the oil and give them 15-20 minutes at 180 or so......

served with a few of your five a day and yesterday's leftover mash given the deep-heat treatment in a fry pan.

Hot stuff!

Trying out a new fish dish with extra bite? Bored with bland and tasteless chillies? Take a look at a new local supplier for a wide range of truly tasty (but not necessarily hot and fiery) chillies from Vaddens, based in Truro.

Netter's nightmare

Image courtesy of NOAA

With the wind averaging well over 30 knots and held firmly in the west.........

Image courtesy of the Met Office

 as a huge area of low pressure passes slowly over the Bristol Channel

there are only a handful of boats at sea still fishing. However, a big French stern trawler, the St Gothard, is towing very close to where the Newlyn netter, Silver Dawn is working. So close in fact that it looks as though she may have towed right over where the Silver Dawn appears to have a tier of nets - see where the two AIS tracks cross in the bottom sector of the image.

The Avalon Bell of Cornwall

Cornwall, especially West Penwith, is renowned for it's rich seam of creative talent - the combination of a landscape hewn from the hardest granite, the ever-present sea and the people contrive together in some mysterious alchemy that turns out an abundance of works for the enjoyment of others. This idiosyncratic animation, which features some well known characters and local boats - the George Johannes being one - tells the story of the Avalon Bell - enjoy with the sound turned up!

Le Breiz Connection

The Maritime museum welcomed some special visitors from Brittany last week to see their new exhibition which celebrates the links between the Cornish and Breton communities. The museum's new Breton Connection exhibition explores the age-old ties between Cornish and Breton fishing communities through a stunning collection of black and white photography. These images have never been exhibited before and draw on a rare collection of photographs taken by Oliver Hill in Newlyn in the early 20th century. The Breton Connection exhibition runs from until July 15 at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, in Falmouth. 


For more information on opening times and admission prices visit www.nmmc.co.uk or call 01326 313388.

New artwork for Through the Gaps.

Looking Through the Gaps towards St Michaels Mount as some of the fleet return to port chased in by gannets (seldom happens!).

From Newlyn side, looking towards the jewel in the crown of Penzance's Art Deco buildings, the Jubilee Pool.

Experimenting with some new graphics for the Through the Gaps Facebook page.