Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

A flaming wreck on the beach. Witness the end of the Newlyn crabber Dom Bosco, a fishing boat that was due to be de-commissioned, but for reasons unknown, was towed outside Newlyn Harbour, drawn up to the high tide mark on Sandy Cove, and set ablaze. The thick smoke drew crowds to the car park, and lacked only the firework displays of last night to make it a landmark spectacle.  Whilst the legality of this 'de-commissioning', health and safety or marine pollution issues will be discussed at some length locally, it is certainly a rare sight.  Perhaps all the fishing boats due for de-commissioning could be drawn up on the beach here and create a new fishing-based theme park? With tractor rides and everything. Anyone ? Return to Ocean-Image.com

In the topsy turvy world of freelance photography, anything might happen, and frequently does so, often in a bad way. But recently a couple of good things happened. First, I found myself shooting a World Record attempt, (OK, it was the slightly obscure 'Most Pirates in One Place' attempt, but a World Record is a World Record, right?) in the blazing sun with 8,733 other scurvy dogs on Penzance Promenade. Having successfully smashed the previous and paltry record of around 6,000, the second good thing happened, I was asked to shoot a surf trip.  I immediately jumped on board a Spanish Pirate Galleon with Self Destruct Nation   and sailed south to the Spanish coast in search of some hidden surf treasures. (OK so it was the Santander ferry, but sailing's sailing, right?). The Basque coast and the rivermouth jewel of Mundaka are much noted for their quality surf, but we managed to find a great setup, without the crowds, straight off the ferry ...