A rower from Wales landed on St Mary?s on Wednesday night after setting a new transatlantic speed record.

Rob Munslow has become the fastest rower to cross the North Atlantic from land to land unassisted.

Rob, 28, from Monmouthshire, arrived on the Islands at 10.29pm, setting a record of 64 days, 10 hours and 48 minutes.

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Falmouth Coastguard had been alerted that Munslow was about two nautical miles from Bishop Rock and seeking help to steer his Carnegie X-Stream boat into St Mary’s.

The lifeboat was launched and at about 10.30pm, a red flare revealed that the boat was aground near Gilstone, having missed the meeting point with the launch.

The lifeboat crew located Rob with its smaller Y boat soon after 11pm and towed it clear of the rocks and towards dry land.

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Rob, who had capsized twice during the journey from St Johns, Canada, said he was overwhelmed to have finished the challenge.

He was met by his family and girlfriend at the quay after being at sea since June 27.

He raised money for Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice in Cardiff and Trinity Hospice in south London as part of the challenge.

“It’s been a fantastic journey,” he said.

An exhausted Rob posted the following message on his website today:
I set a world record at 22:29 last night, the record “fastest solo unsupported crossing of the North Atlantic land to land”.
I would like to tell all about it but right now I can barely summon the energy to climb the stairs up into the Harbour Masters Office here in the Isles of Scilly where I write these words. Therefore before I collapse through exhasution please be patient and I will put out a few more updates on my achievement very soon.

Bottlenose and common dolphins have been spotted in waters off the Isles of Scilly during a national whale and dolphin watch.

The Sea Watch Foundation?s annual nine-day survey saw a 20-strong pod of common dolphins off the Islands.

The watch also saw encouraging numbers of harbour porpoises, which have seen a decline in recent years.

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More than 60 manned watches were conducted around the British Isles during the project, with hundreds of people taking part.

The charity says recording whale and dolphin numbers is useful in providing a warning of possible problems for marine life, particularly in areas frequented by boats.

A teenager who stole from a shop on the Isles of Scilly was trying to impress his girlfriend, a court has heard.

Steven Christopher Mitchell, 19, of Camborne, pleaded guilty to theft from the Scilly store, as well as two burglaries in Redruth.

In two places he left blood behind and in the third was traced from CCTV footage, Truro magistrates were told.

Robin Smith, defending, said Mitchell had been under the influence of alcohol when he committed the offences in a bid to win back his girlfriend.

He was given a 12-week prison sentence suspended for a year, and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and pay ?180 compensation.

Isles of Scilly residents are the most active in England, a new survey has revealed.

Sport England, the agency that develops community sport, found that 36.9% of people on Scilly participate in at least 30 minutes of active recreation three or more days a week.

The agency questioned 1,000 people in each of England?s 355 boroughs.

Richmond upon Thames was the most active borough in mainland England, with 31.6%.

The Active People Survey, which examines the participation of adults (16 years and over) in sport and active recreation in England, started in October 2005, and will finish (with about 356,000 completed interviews) in October 2006.

The published results are based on data from the six months from October 2005 to April 2006.

One of Hollywood’s hottest stars has been holidaying on the Islands this week.

Regular visitor Jude Law was spotted building sandcastles and fishing for crabs on St Martins beach with son Rudy.

Check out these pics from The Sun newspaper:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2006380480,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=Bizarre
(you may have to copy the link and paste onto the address bar).

The Isles of Scilly Council is to hold a by-election in September.

The election will be fought between former councillor Steve Whomersley and Chris Thomas.

The contested seat was previously held by vet Rick Barrowman, who left the Islands at the end of July.

Islanders will go to the polls on September 8.

The proposed strike by air traffic controllers at St Mary?s airport has been averted.

Three controllers were set to stop work this week due to dissatisfaction with the results of a recent job appraisal.

Talks between the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) the Transport and General Workers Union and the Islands? council has ended in an agreement to halt the industrial action.

It was decided that ACAS would assess whether the council’s job evaluation scheme was “fit for purpose” for the work of the Air Traffic controllers, as well as re-examine the results of the previous evaluation.

The proposed strike action by air traffic controllers at St Mary’s airport has been suspended for two days.

The Council says it has received a formal response from the Transport and General Workers Union, representing three full-time air traffic controllers, stating that their members have agreed not to strike on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The planned strike is due to dissatisfaction with the results of a recent salary appraisal of all council employees by an external body.

Flights to and from St Mary?s could be thrown into chaos next week as air traffic controllers go on strike.

The action is due to dissatisfaction with the results of a recent salary appraisal of all council employees by an external body.

Now three full-time air traffic controllers, backed by the Transport and General Workers Union, say they will strike if a resolution cannot be found before Tuesday.

The Council have been advised by the TGWU that a formal ballot comprising a single vote has indicated that the workers will take ongoing industrial action in pursuit of a better salary package.

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But the Council say they must treat all staff equally and are bound by the results of the appraisals.

A statement released on Monday by Councillor Fred Ticehurst, Chair of the General Purposes Committee, read: ?Unfortunately, it now appears that as a result of this strike action there could be unavoidable disruption to air travel to and from St Mary’s from the 15th August 2006.

“This is all the more regrettable since this is the busiest time of the year for everyone who is involved in providing for our summer visitors.?

A meeting, brokered by the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) will take place on Monday in a last-minute attempt to find a resolution.

The Isles of Scilly has the lowest rate of loss of life from drinking in England, a new report has revealed.

Men lose just two to four months of their lives from drinking alcohol in Scilly and East Dorset, compared to a national average of ten months for men and five for women.

In Blackpool, men can expect to cut 23 months off their lives and women 13 months - around 140% above the English average.

The report, by the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University and the North West Public Health Observatory, also said 18.2% of adults across England binge drink at least double the daily recommended level in one or more sessions a week.

But the South West had one of the lowest rates (less than 16%) compared to the North East and North West (23%).

One bemused local said: “It must be the air. It’s certainly not that we drink less.”