Adam F

30! Well done all, great to see this comp so well supported again, at present Fri and Sat are looking reasonable, Sunday might be slightly restricted. I'll keep you all posted.

Frustrating isnt it? From a prefect forecast we have now seen everything across the weekend! I'm pretty confident the comp will be on, but whether we get over the channel is looking increasing doubtul. As I type (Tues 2030) Fri and Sat look lovely, but sunday is now touching F6 Lets see what Weds brings.... My back up Plan B is to go down to Portland for either 1 or 2 nights and target the wrecks / inshore marks. Plan C is to go down to the Island and spend a night in Yarmouth.

Ive got a pair of nearly new, plastic fuel cans here in green. They have been used on just one cross channel trip and cost me

Thanks Andy, and passports

Ok so just checking what I'll need for next weekend, so far I have: White not red diesel in my spare cans 3 main receipts for the boat to show ownership In date flares only VHF license SSR registration and paperwork European healthcare card Anything I'm missing? Do to need to fly an ensign? If so where from etc?

Agree mate! Time to start Prepping the boat again!

Out of interest Ive just looked back through the records (to 2004) and every year either a Conger or Bream has won, and with only one execption they have all been this side of the Channel - mostly within range of a 16' boat. Also interesting is that in 2005 we had 38 anglers fish the event, the numbers have declined since then each year, however this is a common theme of most club comps.

Interesting reaction to this comp. Personaly I use it as the ideal excuse to get away for 3 days and fish non-stop, as I have done for the past 4 years. If I really wanted to win the comp I'd stay inshore and fish for bream or congers - honestly! My personal tip would be to anchor the back of xchurch ledge in 50' water during the hours of darkness for a 100% eel - not hard to achieve, even in a 16' longliner. For those of you who have 16/17' boats why do you feel disadvantaged against the bigger craft? Deeper water doesnt mean bigger fish! Mike - take a look back at previous years 2nd trips to Alderney over the 48hr comp - most of us dont even make 50% of specimen. The clubs constitution relates to small boats in club waters - this is boats under 30' from St Cats to Portland and as far South as you wish. This comp still complies with this? Mike - Why not enter the comp and prove a point?

Nige - have you got some Bilgex? Good stuff it is - bung a capful in the bilge, top up with water, take the boat out - let the motion of the ocean do it's thing and then pump it out! That'll clean your bilge. Glad the boats back in.

Not long now until your club's next competition - the annual 48hr specimen hunt. For those who havent fished this before the format is simple.

Final Results: 1st - Bobi - 3lb 0oz 2nd - Niggle - 2lb 8oz 3rd - Pete Snr - 2lb 0oz 4th - Colin - 1lb 13oz 5th - Sally 1lb 8oz 6th - Alfie - 1lb 4oz 7th - Mike Fox - 1lb 0oz 7th - Aaron - 1lb 0oz 7th - Stuie - 1lb 0oz 10th - Carol Fox - 13oz Well done Bobi!!

Cherbourg and Alderney for JV too. So, JV, Alfresco and Wight magic doing the split trip and the rest sticking to a longer trip to Alderney. Ps. Mark from AA is coming over to Cherbourg for the 2nd night with his new boat

Same here for us. I have crew now, Paul Frey is coming along on this one. Accommodation also sorted, we are back with Mark @ AA again.

Simple plan today - day off work, sun, light winds, bags of bream and a relaxing day afloat.... erm... not quite! The day started OK, me, Paul Frey and Alun J met at the boat and headed round to Ballard in the sun and light NW breeze, but the bream just went playing ball, 3 moves and still no bream, so a drift through the mark and we havent seen a fish despite about a dozen boats all fishing the mark. Al then managed to add a new species to my tally - a Sea Scorpion By now the wind was top of a F4 and had gone SW, and the sun had gone in... even a drift through the mark failed to produce so we headed out to my banker ray mark. It was still sloppy out there and with the morning flood dying we had wind over tide and swung wildly, que masses of tangles. In between all this Paul managed to squeek out 3 fine rays - a nice Small Eye of 10lb and a pair of beautiful Spotted Ray. Poole patch was the next target but similar conditions and no bream meant this was a short stop, however we did stop for lunch here, and Will's efforts on the recent Alderney trip had inspired me, so we had fresh squid (caught by Al on Thurs) salad from my garden and buttered Jersey Royals for lunch .....mmmmmm! To end the day we spent an hour drifting the Haven and managed to save the day with half a dozen hard fighting bass on spinning rods and Storm Eels. Anyway - nice to be out, goes to show you cant always brim the fish box!

Lies, all lies I tell you!

Thanks kam good to know, I'll be stayIng aboard for this one

Mike, The 'scales' stay open for 7 days after the comp to allow all results to come in. So I'll confirm at the end of the week. So far we have: 1st - Bobi - 3lb 0oz 2nd - Niggle - 2lb 8oz 3rd - Pete Snr - 2lb 0oz 4th - Colin - 1lb 13oz 5th - Mike Fox - 1lb 0oz 5th - Aaron - 1lb 0oz 5th - Stuie - 1lb 0oz 8th - Carol Fox - 13oz Anymore for anymore??

Thanks for the report Dave, great piccies too. Well done on popping your Alderney cherry!

Great to have you along Peter, like the others I too was very impressed by the way Free Boys handled the conditions - nice one on the fishing front too. A very, very big feat in a 6m boat - well done! Hope to see you out there soon.

Great minds (skippers!) think alike mate - my plans and thoughts exactly. All we need now is the weather!

Tides look good mate - slightly smaller than we had this weekend, with HW in Braye on Fri of 1430 - so good for re-fuelling. The trip shouldnt need that much more planning that the usual 3 day 2nd Alderney trip we have done the past 3 years - instead of going to Braye on the 2nd eve we go East. The plan certianly suits fishing Speedy in the afternoon and then catching the tide East. In not going in a F4/5 this time though!

Time to start looking at plans for the 48hr Comp? Whilst chatting in Alderney this weekend, I had several comments that doing another Alderney trip in June and then Cherbourg in July wasnt going to be possible for many boats - busy diarys, cost of trip, crew availability etc... So, I'm looking at combining the two trips over the weekend of the 48hr comp. My rough plan would be to cross to Alderney on Friday, fish eother mid channel or around the island on Firday, overnight in Braye, Sat fish around the island / banks, then head over to Cherbourg onb Sat afternoon, overnight in Cherbourg with a meal in town and then head out Sun morning to fish the eastern wrecks on the return leg? Anyone up for this?

Jonny, It's a really hard one to answer with so many varibles, even tougher if you dont know the area! Where are you wanting / planning to fish? What boat do you have? How experianced are you? What is the effect of the tide? etc, etc In a northerly wind generally you'll find shelter close in as the land will give a bit of protection, however once a mile or so out this will be less. Certianly inside the harbour is more protected. Looking at your boat in your profile a 15' Bonwitco I'd say you'll want pretty calm conditions. Tide effects the sea state, we have strong spring tides this week/end. When the tide runs against even a gentle breeze it can kick the sea up - when it runs against a F5 it can get really nasty - headlands with a strong tidal race can be very dangerous. As a rule of thumb with your boat I'd be looking for no more than F3 with sea state slight. Hope that helps. Adam