3rd – 21st October (29 arrivals for the period)
Whitefish totalled 2350 boxes from 4 Anglo Spanish liners and 2 Scottish twin rig trawlers. The Anglo boats have returned from summer breaks to very good fishing and reasonable market prices. The Scottish fleet continue to scratch out a living on the shelf edge or further afield at Rockall. Prices remain steady for good quality fish.
Shellfish landings likewise have been reasonable with the offshore crabbers landing plenty of brown crab and the visiting scallop dredgers very good hauls of locally caught clams. The Stornoway prawn fleet continues to fish away, calling in to land and load up with ice. The local prawn fleet has worked well in a period of very settled weather.
The non-fishing sector saw the luxury cruise ship Hebridean Princess make her sixth and final call of the year. The coastal bulk carrier Isis arrived and discharged 900 tonnes of salt/grit for the Highland Council roads dept and the fleet of day running Smit support vessels involved with the N Minch war games came and went as required.
Ferry Infrastructure
Everything is proceeding pretty much as planned. Construction tenders have been returned and assessed; some qualification information is still required before the contract is awarded early next week. At time of reading, the gangway tenders will have been received with 5 companies in the running for design, construction and delivery of a state of the art airport runway system from the terminal to the ship. The terminal building is still in the design stage; once finalised drawings have been agreed a public meeting will be held to present all the ferry improvements. Details will be advertised in the Ullapool News before too long and all members of the public will be welcome.
Tall Ships
Wylde Swan is currently preparing for another transatlantic voyage to spend the winter in the Caribbean. The School at Sea programme is designed to take youngsters on a 7 week adventure voyage, studying their normal school work for 7 hours each day and thereafter learning seamanship and sailing skills. The WS is planning a return to the village in August 2014 for further adventure voyages; it’s hoped there will be another former high school pupil in the crew for the summer.
Electric Car
Insane Bolt showed remarkable sanity as it cruised majestically round the wet bends of Goodwood steered by 5 local young lads on Sunday 13th October. To finish 4th in the national finals is a fantastic effort and whilst the boys done good, none of this would have been possible without the time and dedication of Mr Dawson. It’s amazing on the day to see 75 cars all of which have been lovingly constructed in classrooms and science labs. Insane Bolt on the other hand, constructed in a draughty garden shed, is the classiest and most gracefully designed car on the track. Well done Mr D – a fantastic effort.