Paul D

Not quite correct . According to BoatInsure a speedboat is over 30 knots. A cabin Cruiser is under 30 knots. - In both cases they are under 23 feet, ( Can see this by hovering over the button for speedboat and cabin cruiser ) Categories

Fished Tuesday afternoon with Elaine and Helen on a mark to the west of XRay. Weather was beautiful with a slight breaze but fishing time was limited as had to be back for the football. Had trouble finding Mackeral ( scad were all I could find at XRay ). tried near the ledge as well and caught a grand total of one mackeral Due to lack of mackeral fished with quid and we were getting plenty of bites which we couldnt connect with so assumed ( correctly ) that it was bream. Reduced hook size to size 2 and started catching bream after bream to around 1 lb. Not a single dogfish - but nothing else either apart from ....... Helen Blanked best part of the day was Elaine who was initially not fishing and Helen wanted to get somthing to eat so gacve Elaine her rod to fish with. No sooner than Elaine had started fishing she was into a good fish. This was no small bream - it dived 3 or 4 times and I though - bigger bream. However, this was a Trigger Fish - first onboard Neo. 1lb size

Martin, If I cannot get any crew, I would be more than happy to crew on Maverick ( I am assuming you have got all the Bass catching tips from Dean of course ). Mike, Haven't seen which day it is yet ? Is the 22nd bad or the 21st ( I am assuming we are going on the Sunday - although either day will do me as Bournemouth are playing away ).

Cabin Cruiser.

Mike, Not several years of development. ( It was launched 2 years ago ). The key is having plenty of contributors. ( I can only write about so much !! ). Where's their forum What is good about their site is the layout. I do like the members boats page - but page layout design is not my forte I am afraid. Al;so the catch reports page where you can click month by month to see what has been caught. I think we could / should have something similar but would it be possible unless members reported their catches ? Anyone want to offer to go through the forum catch reports and correlate them for the front page ( in a similar fashion as done for existing ones ? )

I got my insurance through www.boatinsure.co.uk ( Amlin Insurance Services ) which is actually underwritten by Amlin Underwriting Ltd. ( ie. It is as good as "direct from the underwriters" ) You can get a quote straight away and you can get immediate insurance - there is no paperwork as your certificate is held online - although you are advised to print it out ( good idea as I nearly forgot my certificate number ). My letter came from Porthcawl the other day ( had been sent to the wrong address ) and they were proposing to insure me through Amlin which probably explains why the cost was the same For fully comp insurance and legal expenses cover (

Try it now. Link now in bold and also added under the Home and Information menu. Better ?

Neo will be there. Will need a crew member though as Elaine and Helen are unable to make it. Mike interested ?

According to the Echo today :- Boat sinking Rescue as boat sinks near island FOUR children and six adults were dramatically rescued in fog-bound Poole harbour as a 45ft-boat sank near Brownsea Island. Visibility was less than 50ft when the ex-naval harbour boat Freedom hit a submerged object, ripping a hole in her hull. Skipper Robin Maggs made an urgent Mayday call as the wooden dive charter boat started to list and within minutes a number of small boats managed to find the stricken vessel in the gloom. As water flooded the lower deck the passengers and Mr Maggs' wife Irene were taken off by the Salterns Marina launch, which had been ferrying boat owners to nearby moorings when it heard the distress call on Saturday morning. The two family groups managed to rescue most of their possessions and were taken to Salterns Marina as a Poole RNLI crew arrived to try to save the boat. But despite the best efforts of senior helmsman Paul Singleton and his team they were unable to pump water out of Freedom quickly enough to stop her vanishing beneath the waves. Within half-an-hour of striking the unknown object in the Wytch Channel the boat had sunk. All on board were from the Swindon area but the holiday trip was brought to an abrupt end when a loud, metallic bang rocked the bottom of the boat. Mrs Maggs said: "We hit something very solid and hard. The water was coming up right away. Within five minutes the water was on the bottom of the lower deck. She was listing sideways. We were getting people in our tender when the Salterns Marina boat arrived." No one was hurt in the incident and Mrs Maggs thanked fellow sailors who had responded quickly to the Mayday call.

I suffered a similar fate with a mackeral that Rich had left. Found it a week later crawling with maggots

Got back from short trip to Solent out of Lymington ( very short trip as off to Weymouth tomorrow AM ). Caught a nice sized starry smoothhound - didnt get to weigh it though as I got called out by work whilst fish was alongside the boat - fish then decided to make a break for freedom while I was on the phone and straightened out the hook also caught the smallest bream I have ever caught - it was approx twice the size of the hook which had gone through one gill and out the other !! Weather was great - my only regret was not being able to stay out longer. Mackeral were a bit scarce - had one string full after 4 drifts. 4 other boats also seemed to be struggling to find Maccky as well.

Adam, Ive got a grease gun with a few attachments - you are welcome to try the attachments out for size on your nipples

Fish to avoid eating Fish to Eat

Definitely. I have a friend who now lives in Weymouth - will take him and his son as crew. Weather will have to be good though ( nothing too rough ! ) 3-4 in Christchurch Bay can be pretty lumpy.

Will do. Howasabout Saturday ?

Rich / Adam, I have week 9th to 14th August off, so will be going out fishing that week a few times - so if you don't mind wouldn't mind trying to beat the current club record

Dead Whale to Be Towed to Land By Martin Halfpenny, PA News A dead 80ft fin whale which has been causing a shipping hazard will be towed to land and beached, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said tonight. The carcass of the mammal has been drifting in the Solent off Hampshire since the weekend. The MCA issued a local navigation warning because the whale is in one of Britain

As the weather has been so good persuaded Helen and Elaine that a trip out Friday evening would be good. I even recall mentioning the words "flat calm". Got to Wick ( having nearly lost a trailer wheel ) and a regular we see there hade just returned saying it was "quite lumpy" out there. This rang alarm bells but undaunted we set out. Got to the ledge and pushed on towards XRay. A few driftes for mackeral ( plenty around ) and then headed for XRay. Helen was going very quiet and a greenish sort of colour, so decided to stop and anchor. Then its was dogfish time...... Weather improved as the tide slackened ( good job as I was thinking it would rough up if the tide ebbed with the wind against it ) and by the time of the fireworks it was quite pleasant. Elaine caught her first Tope ( as did Helen ) and I caught the biggest Tope Only second trip out ever at night and the return was far smoother than the first time. Now armed with plotter it is a simple case of following the track back in ( whilst looking out for other boats ). - Also learnt that a strange light in the sky is possibly the light on top of the mast of a yacht

Adam, I hope you have tightened the wheel nuts well. I think I told you on Saturday that I nearly lost a wheel off my trailer because the nuts had come loose ( halfway undone ) and the wheel was wobbling like mad. Still puzzled how they have all come loose after being to Weymouth, Lymington 5 times and Wick numerous times !!??

Adam, I would but we have so much to do Saturday + will be out Friday PM. PS; Next time out call me up on channel 9 or 91

I don't

See you at XRay hopefully, but please no turning up and getting straight into a ray after we have spent a couple of hours catching nothing

Just went to lookup your dogfish to see if a club record and found I have missed the page from the menu bar. Anyhow, now I have found the page Records It would appear you have a potential club record dogfish on your hands ??

Now I am feeling really envious - roll on Friday and hopefully still flat calm and you have not caught all the rays

Weather for Friday is looking good and the tides are perfect for a trip out after work. So having read Alun's report of calm water and fishing we ( Helen, ELaine and myself ) will be taking Neo out around 5:30 PM from Wick Tide times for the entrance are :- LW: 15:50 HW: 21:35 Low water at Wick is at 17:30 so a low water launch is needed - will just have to pretend I haven't seen the warning sign !?!