Mike Fox

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Uneventful day on Frisky...undisturbed by all target species. One whiting to Carol, one doggie to me, one mackerel to Carol. We had a 9.30 bridge life out....3.30 back...and about 2 hours of fishing off Old Harry. Roll on longer days again! Mike

1) Court Jester - Neal Alfie, Stuie 2) Kingfisher, Chris, Jim (Tiddler) & Stu (Non member) 3) Fisheagle - Allan, Dave (Coddy). Have a spare space if anyone would like to join us. 4) Serenity Tony,Rich and John. 5) Alfresco Charlie, Will and hopefully Dan, have a space if anyone would like to join us 6) Hobit plus 1 non member ( staying in the harbour as first time out with new engine ! ) 7) AWOL Martin & Dean 8) Wight Magic Dave ,Ben , Craig , Barney 9) Joint Venture.... Adam, Alun + Rob 10)Tarka V-Gordon and one Non Member. 11) Wishin Too-Nigel + Mal Thomas 12) Tigerfish Steve, Alan (non member), Matt (non member) 13) yelo Jacob, Mick, Kev. Lucky for some 14) Valton Malcolm,Tony 15) LIBBY Martin C, M Toms 16) Illusion - Tom Smith + non member 17) Freeboyz- Matt & Peter 18) Frisky Fox - Mike and Carol...as VERY late entrants

Welcome to the club, there's a wealth of knowledge to be found from members, and on the Forum. Don't be afraid to ask, and if you can make the monthly meetings, you'll get to meet people and get ideas and the help you might like. Mike

Unlucky with the big one Jim, a few of us have connected with something huge, it's just a matter of time before someone is able to chase, tire it out, and get a look at it. Mike

I have no crew this Sunday, so if it's fishable, I can either offer a place for a member (but I'm constrained by speed and bridges), or crew for someone else. Mike

If anyone needs to see what's happening with weather/sea state mid-channel, I use this site to view data from the Channel Light Vessel: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=62103 Looking at 9ish today, it showed sustained winds peaking over 50 knots with a wave height of over 20 feet, peaking at 04:00, with hourly plots going back about 1 day. Copying and pasting doesn't format properly, but if you look today, you should get an idea about how it all built and comes down. Definite food for thought, and maybe a site to check before any Alderney trips? Mike

Lots of information on this in the media, but the shipping and inshore forecasts (my trusted sites) bring this home,,, Shipping Forecast - Issued: 0405 UTC Sun 27 Oct Wind Southwest 7 to severe gale 9, increasing vi loent storm 11, perhaps hurricane force 12 later. Sea State Rough or very rough, becoming high. Weather Thundery showers, then rain. Visibility Good, becoming poor. Selsey Bill to Lyme Regis Strong winds are forecast For coastal areas up to 12 miles offshore from 1200 UTC Sun 27 Oct until 1200 UTC Mon 28 Oct 24 hour forecast: Wind Southwest 7 to severe gale 9, increasing storm 10 or violent storm 11 for a time. Sea State Rough or very rough. Weather Squally showers, rain for a time. Visibility Moderate or good, becoming poor for a time. Will be interested in seeing wave height mid-channel, and will post actual data later... Mike

Have just doubled up mooring lines on Frisky, taken steps to remove items contributing to windage, and lashed down anything that could flap, etc. Not much more that can be done I guess. Hope it's not as bad as forecast, and i'm glad I'm not on a swinging mooring! Mike

Haha yes Charlie, I remember that. A 40lb conger to a 2oz spinning rod in 75 foot of water while looking for a whiting. I'm still convinced you tickled it with the landing net, to make it go back to the bottom, so you could watch my face as I did it all again. Am sure a cod wouldn't be as stubborn. Mike

I quite like the idea of targetting cod with a ragworm and light spinning gear.... Mike

Have a great day Stuie! Mike

Brian, some of us keep within those speed limits and still can't achieve those timings! Mike

Hi Graham, Should be simple to work out...total weight of boat, engine, gear, crew etc e.g. 2,000 kg will displace 2,000 kg of seawater when floating. Positive buoyancy needed = 2,001 kg (or more) to be unsinkable. I litre of buoyancy of fresh air displaces 1kg of water (ok I know seawater is 3.4% more buoyant). So...for the example above you'll need 2,001 litres of buoyancy adding (or more) - Imagine 2 cubes, a metre on all edges.... That's an awful lot of balls, milk bottle cartons or foam..especially remembering the gaps between the balls etc can still flood. So...two things needed... 1) Calculation of total weight of boat and gear and crew (suggest weighbridge needed?). 2) Exact measurement of the available space for buoyancy (suggest fill the void with water, pump out, and measure/weigh). If you don't have the volume available, and can't add it, then even adding 90% of the buoyancy needed means it will still sink if holed...and you might struggle harder to repair any leak at sea. This simple calculation is why a dinghy or liferaft makes more sense than adding buoyancy for most small boats...or always fishing with a buddy boat near enough to help. Mike

Must admit to be undecided whether to register or not. The forecast hasn't been looking good for a while. Mike

Hi Steve, Just caught up with this thread.... If you're upgrading the windlass motor, the battery drain will be higher, so will the existing cables be able to handle this? I'm toying with the idea of a windlass for Frisky one day, and cable diameter, length, and distance from the battery bank were all stated as factors to consider. Regards, Mike

Well done, you did better than we did !!! Good to have seen you out there. Mike

Sounds a great day Stuie! Mike

Am envious Chris! Sounds a great day. I have had lots of hits on plastics over in France, with no hook ups. Slow retrieval after the hits showed cuttle hanging on. After a while the plastics lures were filled with v-shaped notches from their "beaks". Could it have been the same? Mike

Sounds like some good fish came in Chris - well done that man! We went out Sunday morning after you were back, and stayed inshore, fishing a few isolated rocks inshore, then Boscombe Pier area, where we had small plaice and a dab, but it was quiet. Came back via Poole Patch (wrasse city) and a few fruitless drifts for plaice in the harbour. Mike

Might see you out there Steve. Frisky is back in commission. Mike

Hi Chris, Thanks for the offer, I think I do have parts I need. I'm still surprised the securing bracket for the cable has fractured - I'd never have expected that much of a load on it. The cable snapped at the junction between the cable inner and stainless connector rod at the morse lever end. It all looks vertical and inline there, and I can't see a routing problem anywhere in the system. Think it happened in the same place once before too. Thanks again, Mike

Hope to repair Frisky's throttle mechanism now I have a replacement cable clamp, and join up thew new throttle cable today, and be out tomorrow - probably staying inshore until am happy with it. 3 cables in 4 years isn't good, and the Morse lever mechanism was replaced 4 years ago. Might be a design fault in the routing or something, this shouldn't keep happening.. Mike

That is an interesting observation Duncan! Having seen the impact of static nets on the 50-50 banks and Spoil Grounds area this year, I can see that happening here too. Thanks, Mike

Not extensive enough - what's wrong with Poole and Christchurch Bays too ? Mike