Adam F

You should have floored it... Seen if Manta could outrun the chopper with its new hydrofoils! Lol. Well done guys always good to be involved in these things.

4 days is enough, it's pretty full on and I know I come back shattered! I wouldn't really want to do any longer. The other thing is having a weather window that allows you to stay that long! It's usually an ask to get the 4 days!

Sleeping onboard is fine, I've done it many times now. The facilities in Braye are basic but clean, the showers are hot. As Martin says they are all swinging moorings, most of us moor stern on when sleeping onboard to avoid the bow where you sleep taking the slap all night. However after doing this trip for a number of years even the hardcore are staying on land this year. The novelty seems to have worn off, and a warm comfortable bed that doesn't move isn't a bad shout for around £30 a head. Would be good to have you along. Adam

Hello old buddy! I havent a clue about the rod but great to see you on here again. Have a great holiday. Adam

5 weeks to go!! Surely it's time to start looking at weather forecasts!

Also, I think we should open this up to all juniors, regardless of whether they are a member or not. I know a couple of Reuben's friends would be interested?

My oldest is just about at the age where he's starting to take an interest but not enough to warrant a full year or several month long comp. If it was a one off junior comp I'm sure he'd be up for it. Well done anyway, we need to keep the junior side going, it's how I got into it all! Also, JV would be available should a boat be needed to take a few out.

I'd think that would be fine. The plate on the underside will be more important than the bolt size, it's about spreading the load. Put it another way: how do you manage when anchored in a big tide? A swinging mooring shouldn't be any worse.

Hmmm. It's a long run just on the off chance, strange as Portland is usually underway by now, I've had mackerel in April down there before. I've heard that the pollock on the wrecks have been equally poor this year?

Cheers all, sadly was working today but hope to get out Sat.

Any further news from Portland? Next weekend looks do-able, but would be nice to hear of the odd one before making the trip. They should be there by now?

Do you want me to pop in tomorrow and have a quic look? Will be passing your door late morning? Or is she on the river?

Every year I go down around Feb and expect to do just a few odd jobs and always come away with a notebook full! I quite like it in a way though, esp. While the fishing is slow in Feb and March, and it's a nice feeling hitting the water in the spring all ship shape. I'm about 60% complete! I was going to strip and re paint the leg, but I've decided to rub back and go for a new coat of trilux instead. Cheaper and quicker. I don't need it as I'm out of the water but a complete repaint is a major job. A few bits of grp work, replace a few broken bits a full deep clean and polish and I'm there! Charlie, thanks for the heads up on Breaksea. It's a good shout, although I'd suspect they would need the boat as they would have to be moulded to fit. It's one of the reasons I haven't done them this year as I haven't had the time to get the boat back home. I should have moulded them from grp when I built them instead of using ply and gel washing over it. They have lasted well for 5 seasons but are starting to look a bit tired now.

Nearly Rob. Get a fibreglass one, cheap and light. Less than £20.

Now you need to go on eBay and buy a load of different mounts so you can play with boom shots, head cams, rod cam etc... It's loads of fun!

I had a rare hour free today to pop down to JV, didn't think I had much to do, but still managed to come away with a long list, albeit smallish jobs. The main one is replacing the deck lockers which I didn't make properly when I built it... They are survived ok until now, but need cutting out and some proper jobs moulding. It's a job I can do, but ideally I'll need the boat at home.... So might have to wait until next winter.

It won't be the laptop. I can even use my ipad to edit basic video. What software are you using? I use iMovie on the ipad, but it's very basic and limiting. On the PC I use Movie Maker, which is simple to use but you can't do the really fancy stuff Lee does, but it's good enough for me, the only downside is when rendering the video at the end, is prone to crashing if it's more than a few mins of film... You can get it to work ok though. My first time I had to gaff around a fair bit. As Dan and rob says, unless you got a semi pro set up, forget 1080, and just stick with 720.

As if you need your appetite whetting.... :-)

I'll be heading down but will free time at a premium, I'll be waiting until a few reports start to filter in. I see a few of the Poole boats are heading down this week. I think they must be there soon, last year we were getting them from mid March?

Too much for me, they are giving a steady 20 knots of southerly all day Sunday, so I won't be out in that. Sorry Rob.

Like most things in life you get what you pay for. I've tried lots of kit over the years and for the past 8 or so years have found Musto be be excellent. True it's expensive.. But spread the cost over the time you've been through a handful of cheaper kit and it's not too bad. I use a BR1 jacket and MPX trousers. As for getting it messy... Just wash it! It truly is awesome kit.

I'm not sure what 2014 holds for me yet, with a new job to start in February, however I'm sure a couple of days off won't be an issue, although I will be restricted to a trip over a weekend to keep leave at a minimum. It's also my daughters birthday in May so if these first dates fall through that will probably be me out. Anyway Ian is keen this year so I'm sure JV will be there regardless! 1. Alfresco, Charlie plus crew tbc 2. AWOL - Martin + crew already sorted 3. Wight Magic Dave +crew already sorted 4. Kingfisher - Chris + Chris A 5. Tigerfish - Steve, Lloyd, rest of crew tbc 6. Freeboys Peter + Matt. ..... 7. Wandering Star - Andrew + crew tbc 8. Manta Ray...Tomo,PJ,Tubby,Paul,Steve + 2 additional crew tbc 9. JV - Adam, Ian and Alun

I'd have thought a failed sea cock would be prime candidate? It would take a far mass of water to push her under, but saying that with all the flooding and weather we have had it also wouldn't surprise me. As Martin said, a bilge pump on battery would only do so much and cope for so long, a bit different if on shore power? But it's still only a small pump against a huge amount of water, mind. As you say, over to the insurance now, in my experience they should be pretty swift. A new engine and leg would be cheaper than a new boat so I'd imagine that is the way they will go with it?

Anyone got a 90deg snap in elbow to suit a par max type pump and to take 19mm / 3/4" hose?

Apologies for the late report. Last Tues a window finally opened in the weather so Alun and myself opted for a few hours out after a box of whiting, with the chance of a cod. It was only a short trip due to tides and daylight hours but pleasant nonetheless. The wind wasn't quite a low as hoped but wasn't uncomfortable. I've been loath the steam all the way to the island his year, I know if does fish slightly better for cod, but it's still hit and miss and I'm not sure it's worth the 2 hour round trip and 50 quid in diesel, so I opted for a favourite ray mark of mine on the spoils. The whiting where there from the off, but sadly as the tide build they stopped biting but we both had a couple for tea, just not a box full as I'd hoped. Al then had a conger around 30lb, before I followed suit with a double hook up within mins of each other of another similarly sized eel, and a lovely 22lb blonde ray. The tide was too much by early afternoon so we retreated back inshore but as has been the way this year so far the fishing was poor closer in. So not a disaster of a day, no cod, and would have been nice to have seen a few more whiting but still nice to be out. Looks like that was the last trip for 2013. Merry Christmas everyone and tight lines for 2014. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD