Dogs, dogged by bad luck dodge home

It seems that any boat with a dog in the name is destined not to finish the mini transat class Fastnet race this year. First Mad Dog (Jake Jefferries) and then Mad Spaniel (Aussie Geoff Dunium) have had to turn back from the Bishop Rock - Fastnet leg of the race and head for that well-known fishing port in the far west of Cornwall, Newlyn. Must be something of a homing instinct in Geoff's Solo Sails?!!


Next question is, will sailmaker Woody be a hero and give the boys a dry warm bed for the night when they get in?

One year ago today.Cornish and Alderney flag

Cornish and Alderney flags fly in respect.

It was one year ago today that a young Jersey fisherman, Liam Guille was lost in Newlyn Harbour.

One pound fish, very very cheap!

Muhammad Shahid Nazir - who is from Lahore in Pakistan is the singing fishmonger in Queen's Market, Upton Park, London drums up trade with his tag line "One pound fish" in the busy East End market.  There were plenty of mackerel on the stall - be good to know where he gets his fish from and how his working day is organised.

In the meantime, hundreds of thousands have seen the videos on Youtube and a number of singing acts including Alesha Dixon have jumped on the cheerful chap's song.

Mini Fastnet update

Late on Monday night the Fastnet minis are all steaming north in a fresh westerly breeze, all except the Mad Dog which is making an interesting run to the sou' west of the Scillies leaving the rest of the fleet well to the norrard........

8 hours later early on Tuesday morning sees the entire fleet on a westerly heading in the fresh nor' westerly breeze - hard and chilly going when you're out on deck on doubt!

Maria Damanki's interview with The Grocer

Feisty EU fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki is deadly serious about battling fish discards.But she doesn’t take herself too seriously. Instead of posting traditional photographs on her official website, she commissioned this series of light-hearted cartoons.

Reproduced courtesy of The Grocer Magazine.


The EU’s feisty fisheries commissioner, Maria Damanaki, opens up about discards, Hugh and going to “war” over mackerel Maria Damanaki’s office is almost comically inappropriate for a conversation about fishing. 


Ensconced in the European Commission’s HQ in Brussels, it is a good 70 miles from the nearest major fishing port, its skyline cluttered with concrete and glass. When critics complain about out-of-touch bureaucrats meddling with the EU fishing industry, they probably imagine them sitting in offices just like Damanaki’s. Brussels on a grey March morning is certainly far removed from the EU fisheries commissioner’s own upbringing on Crete, where artisanal fishermen - not high-rises - used to dominate the landscape. 


 It’s a different world, but one which Damanaki clearly relishes and approaches with a healthy sense of humour. Instead of going for traditional photographs on her official website, for example, she has commissioned a series of light-hearted cartoons. “My portfolio - although it’s rather small - has a lot of interest in it,” she tells me. “It affects fishermen, consumers, labelling, external relations and internal relations, so it’s a challenge.” 


 And Damanaki likes a challenge. A one-time student activist, she was imprisoned in the 1970s for her opposition to the Greek dictatorship and became a figurehead of the popular uprising against the military junta after taking to the airwaves during a student revolt. 


Almost 40 years on, as protector of the EU’s lucrative fish stocks, she faces a different kind of enemy. “The enemy is our irresponsible behaviour, the enemy is the quick profit, the ‘let’s go there and fish everything’ idea, thinking that something magical will happen at the end of the day and the fish are going to reproduce,” she bristles. “The enemy is this illusion that nature has unlimited resources.” 


 Damanaki’s key weapon against this kind of irresponsible behaviour is her package of reforms for the Common Fisheries Policy, which she put forward last July. It contains a wide range of proposals - from reducing fleet overcapacity to seafood marketing - but there is no doubt about her number-one priority: banning the discarding of juvenile, over-quota and non-quota fish. “It’s a flagship of our reform,” she says. Why? Because discards epitomise what’s gone wrong in the EU fishing industry in the past, Damanaki believes. “It’s something that goes beyond respect of resources,” she says. “It’s a wasteful practice - it’s not about respecting resources; it’s about destroying resources.” In fact, she adds, the practice of discarding fish at sea is so obviously wrong and provocative that it must be tackled immediately. “There is no excuse. That’s why this is a very emblematic issue.” 


 Damanaki’s urgency about discards comes as her CFP reform proposals are at a crossroads, with the Commission currently engaged in negotiations with the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. She is conscious such negotations inevitably mean compromise to appease those member states - such as France - who believe the proposals go too far, but is determined not to water them down. “Business as usual is not an option,” she says.


You can read her full interview with The Grocer’s Richard Ford here.

Olympic torch will pass through Newlyn - at around 8am!

The route for the torch will take it along Newlyn Green and Cornwall's only promenade in Penzance.

All eyes will be on Land's End in the early hours of next Saturday morning as the first of 8,000 torch bearers leave the historic site and begin the Olympic flame's final journey on its way to London. Around one hour later, after following the main road, the A30, the torch will swing right carried by Emma Davidson into 'the Coombe' and a few minutes later will see it turn sharp left and over Newlyn Bridge and off towards Penzance.

Full details of the Olympic Torch Relay's route and the stories behind the torch carriers an be found here:

Plymouth to Fastnet and back 650 mini update

With the wind blowing in from the west sou'west for the last 20 hours.....

the Mini 650 yachts are having to tack just where they probably don't want to - right across the traffic separation zone between Land's End and the Scillies - at least the visibility is good.........

Englishman, Jake Jefferies has decided that he will head way down to the southard in order to get a better run with the wind, hoping it will back sou westerly or more southerly at least to give him a fair wind for the next way-point - the Bishop Rock to the west of the Scillies - will his move pay off?

The Royal Western Yacht Club is pleased to welcome back the Classe Mini sailors for 2012. The competitors set off on Sunday 13th May on a 561 mile course that will take them from Plymouth to Fastnet Rock via Eddystone Rock and Bishop Rock, then on to the Coningbeg Light before returning to Plymouth. The Classe Mini yachts will race in two classes, Series and Proto. The Series yachts are production models, whereas the Protos are one off designs.