Afishionado

For a first trip sorta thing I would strongly recommend Poole. Christchurch is a nice launch and a picturesque harbour but a bitch of a run and bar on the way out. In a boat you are well used to and in the close proximity of a chap like Paul (whoops there goes another prop) who knows the seasonal channel and on a nice summer day all will be fine. But on a chill late witer day with a bit of teeth in the wind I would say it's a no no. However I am certain that when the time comes and the weather window is right you will find there will be someone from the club to come down (and have a laugh at your cockups) WHO SAID THAT?! What I mean of course is some one to come down and give you a guided tour and a hand or three. As for the fishing bit, well half of us have no idea and the other half just snigger at us with comments like OH ANOTHER 60lb bootstrap conger They get booring afte awhile You can tell which half I'm in I bet Mad Mike

There are several sets of steps and ladders. They are all very clearly marked as to who and when can use them. Small boat ones are just on the bridge side of the abortion of a scrap metal monument on the Quay. Used only to stop , pick up and leave. If granny wants to go for a pee you cant stay moored there I usualy stick one of the kids ashoe to get chips or ices and stand off and then circle round to collect them 10 min later. There is a very posh visitors marina at tha opposite end of the quay to the bridge, I know it costs an arm and a leg to stay there but having a bit of cheek myself I would be tempted to ask if I could "just stop and pick up the family please". I mean the worst they can say is bugger off! Mad Mike

Quote....... For example, might soon be looking for: Give me a PM and I can share a few money saving tips. Mad Mike PS Newboys tip re garage floor paint is a good one. I have used it as a bilge and locker paint for years and the addition of a dusting of WOOD DUST makes it none slip. Sand is too harsh on the knees, Wood dust by the tone from my workshop is free.

So the Queen has a flounder up her arse! No wonder she always has that po faced look! Mad Mike

Are there any flounders in the harbour, or is the water too sweet I believe flounders can live for quite a time in fresh water, I am talking weeks and months. I remember fishing the Arun in Sussex many miles from the sea (but still in the tidal area) and catching small flounders on maggots mixed in with bags of raoch and bream. It may be something to do with maturity? Young fish being happier in fresh water estuarine water?

but totally irelevant to Jack who There are large parts of the whole thread that are very relavent to thier problem. To use the Alderny method of anchor retrieval safely it is paramount that the anchor rope is kept within the bow roller. The explination that I and others gave was to illustrate and confirm that point. The painter and launch and recovery are beside the point and I am sure Paul made his comment for those readers that trail their boats. However back to Jack & the pussycat and their pea green boat ........ If their present bowroller is not capable of being used or modified to use the Alderny method and accommodate anchor stowage as well then they have the choice of replacing the bow roller with one that can do the job, or doing what a lot of us do which is to keep the anchor and it's warp in a suitable box inside the deck area with the anchor line running forward to go through the bow roller and then back to the anchor, lower and retrieve from the side and only use the bow roller and anchor rope cleat to adjust the length of warp needed. Mad Mike

Paul boasts.......I have a very interesting book on Cod and the history of cod fishing if anyone is interested. Well you heard it from the man himself folks. If you want to get your hands on Pauls cod piece just give him shout Mad Mike

Paul says.......Note how at no time do I need to remove the pin holding warp in the bow roller and it has the added advantage as I can attach a painter to hold the boat after / before launch. Ed Zachery! Mad Mike

This is the nettle that is not being grasped. So what do the commercial fishermen want to do? Go on fishing ever decreasing shoals of fish until they loose their jobs through attritionand there are hardly any fish left ? Or find other employment now, as hundreds of thousands of others have done as their industries have had to change with the times, and have strong and viable fish stocks in the future for their decendants to fish. Like the Luddites of old who smashed machinery in an attempt to keep their jobs one has to adopt to what is fact. The commercial fishermen can not keep bleating about their livelihoods as an excuse for eradicating inshore fish and habitat. Mad Mike

Duncan says.....have to agree with Mike again (is that 3 and out?) Mike answers..... All the world is mad except for me and thee And I some times worry about thee too

Crumbs yes! ......... http://www.newtoncrum.co.uk But use the web only site 'Craftinsure' Mad Mike

Most people including the politicians do not understand the problem of applying quotas. They think that a simple limit on the number of tons of a certain species over a certain size limit caught will do it. What they fail in their ignorance to realise are the VAST numbers of small fish and other species fish already at quota that are thrown back dead. The policing is only concearned with the size and quantity of fish landed. NOT THE TOTAL DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF THE TRAWL. Imagin say an inshore trawl for sole. The cod end comes aboard weighing say 3cwt gross, it contains say 50lb of sizable sole, the rest containing small fish, immature fish all dead, weed and stone is dumped back into the sea. So do the math 336lb gross less 50lb of sizable fish in quota and the best part of 200lb of dead fish fry and bait fish from the food chain put back in dead. WE DO NOT NEED QUOTAS!! We need to stop commercial trawling and beam trawling in specific breeding and other waters completely and for several years too. We need to stop factory vacuume fishing ships out of the Western Approaches for a period of years too. It is a fact that during the war years (only 5 years) when trawling in British waters was too dangerous due to enemy action and our own mine fields fish stocks increased dramaticaly. A five year moritorium on commercial fishing would be a start. Mad Mike

Craftinsure, and do it on line, they are the least expensive and are the web operation of Newton Crumb one of the biggest marine insurers. Mad Mike

The roller is within two cheeks, the cheeks on some bow rollers are higher than the diameter of the roller by 2 inches or more. And some even have a hole through each cheek on this higher portion as well. It is through these paralel holes that a pin can be fitted thus capturing the anchor rope within the bow roller. The 'drop nose' bit is just a little counterweighted bit of metal that drops down to form a T with the pin so as to stop it sliding back out. Coddy is sugesting that you use one of these even to the extent of drilling the holes needed if your bow roller does not have them. Mad Mike

Yes your right if there is room for it but a lot of modern bow rollers do not have high enough cheeks. Mad Mike

Didn't the can sink with all that oil in it? OK I've got my coat on Coddy LOL ! Mad Mike Got me fair and square there Mad Mike PS I remember one day, one of the laid up molasses tankers in Fowey estuary had about 20 x 50gall drums of white or black marine paint delivered. It was left at Albert Quay awaiting transfer the next day. Needless to say they weren't there the morning, however that summer there were so many boats and houses repainted a suspicious man might jump to conclusions, also black and off white seemed to be the favourite colours that year.

I am going to be a right Joanah about this. Back in the early 90's Col Oliver North (remember him) warned a Congressional committee in the USA that Osama bin Laden was the most dangerous man in the world and terrorism was the greates danger to the world. Of couse no one listened to a thing as vital as the security of nations and we ended up where we are today. So too will be the story of our fish, dolphin. porpoise, and marine eco systems. Serious and knowledgeable prophets of the future of life in our seas will be ignored. Vested interest in the fishing industries of Europe will ensure that the dwindling stocks of fish are hunted into extinction. We allow huge Russian factory ships to vacuume up billions of fish eradicating whole breeding shoals from waters in our Western Approaches. Yet our 'Territorial Waters' are allowed by our Eurosidal politicians to remain at a distance that has no relationship to the natural cycle of the fish in British waters. The Icelanders have the right idea (who remembers The Cod War? Yes realy) Their territorial waters which they fought hard for now extend hundreds of miles to sea and encompass their fishes breeding grounds. I'll make a prophesy... Before we see our government realy do anything about our fish stocks and have the balls to set our own international limits, they will limit sports fishing as though we are the main culprits and the anti blood sports fanatics will pave the path of that course of action. Mad Mike PS For Sam.... Re you and the Navy and a bit of history... Look up the Cod War between Britain and Iceland that took place in the 1960's. It was fought on our side by the Royal Navy and got quite hairy at times.

Jack, I couldn't find your post to tag my answer to so I'll start afresh. Our set up is as follows. We have a normal S/S bow roller with a fabricated S/S U in an inverted position over the top of the bow roller. This is totaly effective in ensuring the anchor rope does not escape from the bow roller no matter the angle of strain placed upon it. The bow rollers mounting has been modified by me to suit my particular boat. The modifications are such as to strengthen the whole fixing so that it can withstand both side and down strain. The whole assembaly is through bolted to the bow of the boat. I emphasise BOLTED as so many, even new boats, rely on using screws to hold down vital fittings. In practice this is what we do. The bitter end of the anchor rope/chain is fed through the roller BACK towards the boat, where it is fastened to a ring in the bow storage area. The whole length of the rope etc is then flaked down in the storage area which can be accessed through a windo in the front of the cuddy. If a 'picknic trip is planned the main anchor is also layed down in the front storage area. However if we are fishing the anchor and chain etc are brought round to the port side of the boat and placed in an old butchers tray together with the Alderny buoy and it's line. When we do our FIRST anchor up of the day the rope is payed out from the bow bin storage area and made fast to a large horned bitt when enough has been payed out. We then put a stopper on the line and clip on the Alderny buoy and line. To raise the anchor from this FIRST drop we leave the anchor line fast to the foward bitt, sight the Alderny bouy so it is on the port side of the boat and then motor slowly but positively forward towards the bouy keeping the bouy on our port side. Some times a tiny bit of port helm is needed to keep the bouy on the port side in the center of the very slight and open turn to port. As the boat moves forward the anchour line is pulled up through the ring on the Alderny bouy and one sees the bouy being pulled downwards sometimes even under. Suddenly the bouy pops up to the surface which means the anchor has lifted (and may be tripped), keep going forward in the very large port arc (this keeps the anchor line away from the prop) untill you see the bouy is actualy following you at the boats speed which meand that the anchor has reached the bouy and is hanging from the Alderny lines end ring. At this point a slight starboard helm is put on to bring the anchor rope towards the port side of the boat. If one keeps going forward steadily the line will be being pulled towards the surface and easily hooked by the crew with a boat hook. The second the crew has his end of the line in his hands close the throttle and let the boat drift. The crew can than bring the anchor line in on the port SIDE of the boat flaking the line into the tray in the cockpit. Doing this there is no need to pull the anchor up to and through the bow roller. ON the second anchor up of a trip a trip the anchor is released from the port side and any additional or excess rope is adjusted by someone (me) reaching through the forward window and doing it at the anchor cleat (bitt). This is a long explination of something which once seen is a piece of pee to do. However the key is that the anchor rope stays firmly in the bow roller, and that the bow roller is substantial and well fixed with through bolts and backing pads. I have fairly serious back problems so EVERYTHING on my boat is arranged so that the least possible strain is put on the crew. Using the method above I can up anchor and away still sitting down apart from one gentle lift at the side to get the anchor in. As a note this method of anchoring was being used when I was a kid in Cornwall about 50 years ago, but those lads then used 5 gallon Castrol oil cans as floats. Mad Mike

Either stick it on Ebay at a 99p start price and see what happens. Mad Mike

Quote but what were those mystery lights in the middle of nowhere. seismic survay cable? Mad Mike

Fred? Do I turn into it or away? Mad Mike

D'you know I never knew you could buy just an inner Bowdenx type cable for a Teleflex system. What's more it would be nigh on impossible to thread a cord down through the outer cable to pull it through, but then why would you want to pull it through with a cord.?. Or am I missing the point entirely? Mad Mike

Not Wednesday 1st Feb known as "The Doom of All Boats Day" ? So called because Kevin Ragwormson (know as Bloody Stupid Ragwormson) the renown Viking sport fisherman of the 11th Cent' launced his nearly brilliantly designed small day fishing longship that incorperated self draining decks on that very day 1006 years ago. Upon launching the craft, he hand his stalwart fishing mate were viewed paddeling furiously but unfortunatly in a 30 degree downward inclination and were never seen again. Many pundits at the time said that Ragwormson should have put the self draining scuppers above the waterline, and who knows they might have been right. Mad Mike

Don't throw too much money at it (unless you want to of course) a bit of S/S from Walter Shaw scrap metal and a bolt should come to less than