October. The week before the clocks go back. On Thursday I popped down to the club with a vague idea of sailing for an hour or so. Allan and Vince from CYC were there and fancied it too. We locked out at 13:30 with no particular intention.
Pretty soon we were heading South East past the Cardiff grounds, all smiling. It was sunny, dry, and Ishtar was bowling along nicely under the breeze. This was better than expected.
I've always loved late afternoon skies in the autumn. Today's were no exception
And storms over Devon
On and on we sailed. None of us wanted to turn back, even when it became clear that it would soon be dark. It was such good sailing, and good fun. Eventually, the turning tide started to work against us and we turned tail and headed back East, passing Barry and Sully once more.
Darkness fell and we put the lights on. We sailed on, up past Penarth, a tug swept by in the black. We entered the Wrach channel. Called the barrage and they kindly offered to open the lock for us 15 minutes early. In we went.
We tied up and switched the engine off just after 20:30. All agreed that we must do this again.
The following morning, Louise was keen to get out. We'd bought a second hand cruising chute on the web, so I took it, knowing that the winds would be too strong.
Louise wanted to try and sail around Flatholm. We locked out and she chose a great line, squeezing past the Southern edge of Cardiff grounds. Another yacht had follwed us, from the lock, heading the same way.
A couple of tacks, and we were rounding Flatholm. As we passed the Southern tip, the wind dropped off until we were crawling along at 2 knots.
Allan called on the radio. He'd just locked out on Chausey, and would meet us west of Flatholm.
I'd forgotten about our 'new' cruising chute, but remembered and dashed below to fetch it. I didn't really know what I was doing, but up it went, and looked great!
Louise helmed, as we headed down towards Allan and Chausey in the Southwest.
Tigger and I, meanwhile, were working hard running the boat.
Allan appeared out of the gloom and shot past us, taking pictures. It was lovely sailing, again, but we decided to turn back before dark this time.
As Chausey approached, Tigger became nervous. Was Lilly aboard? Their last meeting had left Tigger shaking with fear. He is not the world's most courageous dog. Luckily, this time Lilly was elsewhere, so Tigger barked at Allan, bravely.
It was not long after low, but Louise took us in through the Wrach channel.
With gales forecast and the clocks going back this weekend, it may be a while before we get out again. We did pass 1500 miles for the year though, which we are very pleased with.
