Adam F

I echo this - having polsihed BW's hull under the anti foul last year - Faracla is the doggies nuts, but it doesnt leave much of a shine, just cuts - I then use Autoglym resin polish (halford etc) to shine her up. I have perspex windows that have crazed - it aint the scratches on the surface but inside the perspex, I havent got round to changing them yet - and so give them a polish with the autoglym every few weeks.

Phil, Having fished the majority of the wrecks within close distance of club waters, I can tell you that they generally dont produce the hoards of fish you may think. Firstly, if you have never (or do not have much experinace) fished a wreck in your own vessel before it can be hard work, difficult, frustrating, expensive and sometimes dangerous....dont want to put you off though! The 'Inshore' wrecks (up to 20 miles out) only really have a few bream, wrasse and pollock on them in the summer, and pout and conger in the winter. Their are loads to choose from, but to be honest those of us who fishe them regulary tend to this time of year when nothing else is around - eels are then almost guarentted - a bend in the rod. The reef and bank marks fish much more productivly, so dont get hung up by wrecks - join in and youll soon pick up marks and areas where the different species come from. As others have said - the fishing at the moment is about as poor as it gets. If you launch from Christchurch, the end of Hengistbury head will yeild a few wrasse to ragworm fished on the drift. Other than this, off the back of Christchurch ledge in between the Dolphin bank and the ledge may find the odd late whiting, pout and doggies. Adam

Cheers Rich - top day out, and as you said companyw as good. Adam

Steve, Garmin have the best customer service I have ever come across... What is wrong with the current one? Get in contact with Garmin in Romsey - tell them your situation - and they should replace FOC - they have always done with me - I have had 4 new units over the years when even small things have gone bad... Adam

T ....we caught Pollock!...

Spot on Bob - good advice, couldnt have put it better myself. Adam

Charlie, I completely re-wired BW last year and have the wiring diagram if you want it for ref - I have the set up you describe in your initial post. Most of the bits you need can be either bought on-line (switch panel etc) or from auto shops - Halfords etc... Planning is the key, then it shouldnt take more than a day from start to finish. Let me know. Adam

Nice one Charlie - Im chuffed for you, bet you're made up! The wheelhouse looks massive - much longer than I expected? Look forward to seeing her out on the cod grounds later this winter. Any luck on selling GW yet? Adam

Hi Simon, welcome to the club. It certianly was a one of last weekend, as youll read elsewhere, I havent seen waves like that before at the run....very strange. Im sure youll have no problems in getting crew / making new fishing buddies on the forum - look forward to seeing you at one of our meetings soon. Adam (Mudeford Surf Resuce!!)

I actually found it rubbish 2 years ago when we went - the prices we not even as good as mail order - it is great to have a waggle and a feel of the kit though - like one big tackle shop - make a note and then get onto Google and find the best web price. I have a spare seat if you wish...

Rach isnt coming now so I have room for one more. Tom is right, it aint the best Sea show, but is worth doing this time of year - their are usually 3/4 boat manufacturers there. If you use BFM as the advertising code you get the 10.50 tickets also. http://www.gofishingshow.com/home.html Click the Book Online link. Adam

No....dont think so - Im sure Martin or Charlie will confirm, but as long as the boat is not chartered it counts. So - you could go out on a Poole Charter boat as mates with the skipper and not pay for the trip - fish would count. You could go out on a mates boat - fish would count. I think...

....by magic! No seriously - before the ILB arrived Fraiser and a couple of chums saw the floundering Orkney from the shore and jumped aboard the 21' rib to come and assist. After the Orkney was recovered I asked if they could take Gordon back to shore to get the car round to Poole, and I was going to steam round....'why?' they aksed - I recalled the Kimmeridge strory and said I wasnt keen - no probs they said - this guys will do it, he uses the entrance all the time in all weathers - (Fraiser) the rib was alongside BW so he jumped aboard and just opened her right up and blatted striaght over / through the waves - basically if you are going fastaer then them in a straight line (not across them) overtake them and they pose little threat. Adam

Specs; Length - 20' Beam - 7' Weight all in - 1400kg Max HP - 150 They are a French built boat, built by 'Kelt'. The reviews I ahve found are all very promising even from owners on forums - as they are a production model their are plenty of them about - and as I said, a saving of over 5k can be has if one bought one in France... The main problem is that they are all bow, the seating is amidships, which leaves little of no room for fishing - the modification would be to move the steering console forward and to starboard and create a cuddy - they would then be perfect IMO. Kam - yes they have a dealership at Cobbs, will get a blast in one shortly before the harbour speed limit drops.. The main pull is that you seem to get so much more boat for you money when compared to a Warrior...

Fair point Mike - and probably the way most of us built our collection.

Since found this - 1/2 way there...

Bottom line is that I have pretty much decided that a Warrior 175 is the best bet for me to upgrade to.....however they just seem very expensive for what is a 18' fishing boat. Looking around at what else 15-20k buys, it seems a 18-20' sports boat and large engine is well within budget - many of these also have the hull design I am looking for - ie, deep/,medium v hull and flared bow....one snag though - 99% of these are open boats with minimal protection from the english weather - which brings me to my question; I have found these beauties which I could pick up in France for 15k (ish) with a 150hp Yammy etc - so a good price, but how easy / realistic would it be to put a cuddy on one and stil remain aestheticlly pleasing to the eye? Adam

'How long is a piece of string!!' Have a scan through the fourm and you will find loads of advice...but my moto is get decent gear the first time round - it is better value in the long term - ask of us.. Cheap Rod - Ron Thompson range are pretty good - dont go under

Thanks Terry - I now have 4 in my car - rach and me, Gordon and martin - unless anyone else wants to join the convoy and take another car? Can everyone book their own tickets??

It wasnt really the shallow entrance that caused the issue. We had plenty of water at 7am when we departed and we arrived back at HW slack - and had plenty under the keel. The issue was that as the swell approached the beach and got shallower it began to break - it was happening all along the seafront. Similar to Kimmeridge, i.e flat calm seas offshore etc - this swell seemed to be pushed up by a light offshore breeze holding it off and causing a swell. This is the worse that I can ever remember the bar though, both for how shallow its been over the winter and how the conditions where yesterday.

Click here: http://www.nautequipe.co.uk/ Go to online store, then to Stainless Steel Seck Fittings - here you will find Radar arches like this: Basically for every 1" you reduce the pitch you should gain about 200 rpm - so this may help - I would recommend speaking to Prop Revolutions @ Cobbs Quay, tell them you engine, boat and revs etc and they will put you right. Adam

Was planning too - as wanted to look for the new boat.... Sat would be my choice at the moment though - does anyone else fancy it, would be good to do a car load like 2 yrs ago...

As we approached the run, a decent set of rollers could be seen from at least 1/2 a mile off - I remarked to Gordon that we may have trouble getting in....throughts of Sept 2004 came flooding back. We held off the last buoy to asses the situation - it seemed no good, sets of rollers were pushing into the shallow bar and breaking forming 6-10' waves. We had three options as we discussed....1.) Run the gauntlet, but I was wary of this after Kimmeridge, or 2.) Try and get one of us ashore to take the car and trailer over to Baiter, whilst the other steamed BW across the bay or 3.) Anchor and wait for the waves to abate at LW.... As we deliberated, a 16' Orkney - who we thought was Neo (but wasnt - it was called 'B Lucky' came past - we expected him to come alongside and discuss the situation, but he motored straight past and before we knew it he was heading into the surf - I grabbed the binoculars and watched to see if he was OK and to see if he made it though....after about 30 seconds the swell masked the boat and he dissapeared from view - when the boat re-appread all I could see was his keel band! It then appeared that one of the crew was in the water..... The waves continued to whack the poor Orkney - I got straight onto Solent CG who launched the inshore LB....The guys still on the boat managed to get the anchor over to prevent the boat moving and then tossed a lifejacket to the MOB - we couldnt get close enough to help due to the surf, and then appeared to be struggling to get him aboard. A 21' rib then appeared - guys who had seen him from the shore launched and came out to help - we kept in contact with the CG and the lifeboat to keep then abreast of the situation. The rib took him on tow and managed to pull him clear into deeper water, when the LB arrived and took charge. They then took the crew aboard and towed the waterlogged Orkney back into the harbour. I was a little unsure of getting back in myself, but Fraiser (skipper of Aquafresh, Mudeford) jumped aboard BW and expertly helmed BW at full throttle over the bar and surf and into the run - explaining that it was the best approach in this situation. Anyway, as they say, all's well that ends well - could have been very different, but goes to show a cautious approach is always needed. Adam

Went out early this morning - 6.30am to ensure water on the bar at Mudeford - was OK, over 2' all the way out, but wouldnt have wanted to be much later. A flatish sea with a F3 NW decreasing, cold though -3c. A quick run out offshore and we settled in at the desired wreck. Sport came pretty quickly, with the Conger Kid - Gordon pulling up a bootlace first chuck, we then had another couple mid twenties before the tide began to slacken and we drifted of the mark. I then hooked a strangly fighting fish, which popped to the surface as a lovely marked 9lb 14oz Thornback - result! We re-anchored full of hope for the flood. Again sport was brisk and I soon hooked a good eel that went 39lb onboard.. At the same time Gordon played a fish, but it was only when shouts of - grab the net! filled the air I paied attention - a cracking 12lb winter pollock lie alongside the boat! What a result!!! The fishing continued into the afternoon, the wind dropped away and the sea became flat as a pancake - it was like a summers day. The fishing went dead after 2pm for no apparent reason, but we were chuffed having a dozen or so eels, and a decent pollock and ray to boot. Running back in we were surprised to see a huge swell pushing up over the ledge at Christchurch - possibly caused by an offshore breeze and high pressure, we wondered if we would clear the bar...... See my next post for what happened.....

Steve, You are more than welcome - no limit on numbers - the more the merrier! Youre on the list! Adam