Forty islanders and holiday makers turned up this week to clean Porthmellon beach- and they manged to pick up a bin liner of rubbish and rotting seaweed EACH! Island Tourism, who organised the event, presented the volunteers with T-shirts and a barbecue for their efforts.

Organisers told Scilly News they were “concerned” the amount of broken glass and nails found.

Euan Rodger from Island Tourism told Scilly News: “The beach cleaning evening was a great success and its
aims were achieved. We are very grateful to all those who gave of their time - at this busy time of year - and in particular the children and those on holiday, as sadly they outnumbered the tourism community.”

The Bonnet crews were left celebrating this week when both men and ladies crews passed the finish line first.

On Wednesday the ladies crew were rowing in the Men a Vaur beating the Men a Vaur ladies in the Galetea. They were closely followed by the Slippen in the Islander and the Golden Eagle crew in the Czar.

On Friday the men’s crew were victorious in the Islander followed by the Serica crew in the Galetea, Tresco and Bryher’s Czar crew in their sister gig the Men a Vaur. In fourth place were the Men a Vaur rowers in the Dolphin followed by the Golden Eagle crew in the Bonnet. St Agnes’s Shah boys came sixth in the Golden Eagle with St Martins’s Dolphin men in the Serica. The Galetea crew followed them in the Shah before finally the Islander crew crossed the finish line in the Czar.

More porpoises have been sighted on Scilly. Colin Daly from St. Martins spotted a pod on Saturday.

He told Scilly News: “We stopped to fish in a punt near Hangjue on Saturday when to our delight a pod of porpoises swam by close enough for us to hear their breathing.”

If you see any dophins, sharks, porpoises, whales or anything else of interest in the water let Scilly News know by clicking the “Contact Us” link on the right of the page.

Gig rowers and islanders flocked to Fraggle Rock this week to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Bryher and Tresco gig Czar.

Rowers from past and present were treated to a barbecue and face painting. A band made up of teenagers from Bryher and Tresco also played.

Charlie Bennett, who works at Fraggle Rock, told Scilly News: “It was a really great day. Loads of people turned up from all over Scilly. The music was fantastic and there was a great atmosphere.”

The Czar as well as the Men a Vaur is rowed every week in gig races. But the boat has made up a large part of Scilly’s history. It has assisted many shipwrecks on the islands. On 27 October 1927, the SS Isabo struck Scilly Rock in fog. Islanders on Bryher heard the ship’s siren and rowed the Czar from Great Porth to Scilly Rock. The boat had broken in two and many of the men were in the water clinging to timber. The Czar helped to save many of the men

Of all the ‘Isabo’s 38 crew from Italy and Estonia 28 men were rescued by the Czar and other boats.

A shark has been spotted south west of the Eastern Isles on the Isles of Scilly.

The 5 or 6ft animal was seen by local Alfie Trenear. He told Scilly News: “It cruised past the boat about 15ft away. It definately wasn’t a basking shark.”

Basking Sharks are common on the islands and are often seen in the summer months.

If you have spotted any dolphins, whales, porpoises or sharks let Scilly News know.

After weeks of disruption to the gigs both races went ahead this week.

On Wednesday it was the Silver teapot trophy for the ladies from Long Crow to Tresco. Congratulations went to the Golden eagle crew who crossed the finish line first. They were followed swiftly by the Bonnet and then in third was the Men a Vaur girls from Bryher and Tresco.

Friday was another swap race from Nut Rock to St Mary?s for the men. It was a great week for St Agnes as the Shah (rowing in the Galetea) came in just behind the Bonnet who came in first rowing in the Golden Eagle.

The four British rowers attempting to break the world record for the fastest Atlantic row have crossed the important half-way mark of their 2,100-mile row from St John’s to Falmouth in Cornwall.

Having rowed unassisted for 23 days, they now have to reach Bishop’s Rock, off the Isles of Scilly by August 23 in order to break the world record for the fastest Atlantic row. The men have battled storms, counter-currents and unseasonal weather including minus 20?c windchill to reach the point where they are now closer to the UK than Canada.

Skipper Mark Stubbs, 40, from Poole in Dorset, with Jonathan Gornall, 48, from London, Pete Bray, 48, from South Wales and John Wills, 33, from Surrey, hope to raise ?50,000 for the British Heart Foundation.

The latest captain’s log reads, “The air temperature is 23 degrees and the visibility sparkling…Morale is sky high on Pink Lady and this has been boosted by good weather and the sight of tuna and dolphins leaping close by.” During the 23 days at sea, only a few days have seen the sunshine that is necessary for the boat’s solar powered energy needs for such important tasks as desalination of sea water.

The Pink Lady Atlantic First row is the culmination of six years of boat building and development plus two years of high endurance training.

Shore Team Manager for the Pink Lady, Bob Barnsley told ScillyNews: “They have ‘climbed the hill’ with toes, knees, elbows and fingernails. They now have home in their sights.” The crew celebrated with swigs of Newfoundland Screech liquor donated by Canadian supporters, a breakfast of porridge and apples but perhaps appreciated most of all, a complete change of kit.

The crew has no time to wash clothes so each rower started off with four entire kits, to be changed in full on reaching each quarter distance of the way.

St Martins seamed to be on a roll last Sunday when they beat Tresco. Andrew Goddard’s batting did St Martins proud but Tresco bowlers Liam Jenkins and Andrew Lawson made it pretty hard for him.

Alex Le Friec played a very good opening innings for 36 but Tresco just couldn’t find the runs they needed to win. The final score was 149 for 5 after 25 overs for St. Martins and Tresco 118 for 8 after 25 overs.

But St. Martins celebrations didn’t last long. They played St Mary’s on Thursday night in a 20 over match at home.

St. Martins won the toss and put the visitors in to bat first. They scored 149 for 5 wickets. In reply St. Martins scored 121 for 9 in their 20 overs with Giles Reynolds as their top scorer with 46. St. Mary’s won by 29 runs. The next scheduled match will be next Sunday when Tresco plays Bryher for their annual match.

Scillonians who are sick of seeing bottles on beaches are being invited to make a difference. A beach clean, organised by Island Tourism, has been organised to keep Scilly’s beaches as clean as possible.

The event will take place on Monday 26th July at 6pm-8pm on Porthmellon, St Mary’s. And if doing a good deed isn’t reason enough the group are also putting on a barbecue and sand castle competition.

Vice Chairman of Island Tourism Jamie Le Friec told Scilly News: ‘ Island tourism received many comments and complaints from members about the poor state of Porthmellon beach and in particular the rotting seaweed. Having then sought assistance from the appropriate bodies it was clear that Island Tourism would have to take the lead in order to instigate a clean of the beach. Hence a ‘fun’ evening out has been arranged which will, through voluntary action, achieve the cleaning of the beach so that we provide an improved facility for our visitors at this important time of year’

If you would like to part in the beach clean please call 01720 424910.

The islands’ freight launch the Gry Maritha is up for sale on internet auction site Ebay. But don’t panic it’s not the full size version it is a model of the boat.

The model is 42″long 21″height and 10.5″. The boat is plastic along with superstructure, with metal fittings hand rails and has been wired for lights and work. It has water cannon that doesn’t work, a fully working crane, two figures, two props, two motors, large batteries and hand set commander.

Charles Wild, who is selling the boat, told Scilly News: “I bought the boat in Bury St. Edmunds and I sell boats for a living. I have sent boats all over the world, and buy them the same way. I mainly sell to the USA as
they want boats from here.”

The bidding starts at ?360 and any prospective buyer will have to travel to Leeds to pick it up!