September passed into October in an unlikely burst of sunshine at the end of a mixed summer. I took Fleur out into the Bristol Channel for a last sail before laying her up. Under a cloudless sky, with a bit of imagination the water almost looked blue … No wind was apparent when I hoisted the main, set the mizzen and unfurled the gib on a glassy sea, yet the sails filled as we ebbed slowly towards Lavernock Point. Then suddenly, we were being hurled around the Rane Buoy as the fierce tides ripped around the corner. But it soon settled and a light following wind sent Fleur idling past Sully Island and on to Barry. We turned with the tide at the Merkur Buoy somewhere off Cold Knap and were just able to make a course to take us between the two Holm islands; sometimes touching 5 knots on the incoming rush. But then the wind all but gave up the ghost and we tacked to settle for the shortest way home. The south cardinal marking the Wolves rocks steamed past our stern faster than the Queen Mary and the sea whispered its warning as breaking water surfaced barely a hundred yards away. Soon we were becalmed though and the outboard took us the final mile and a half and safely back through the cavernous locks of Cardiff barrage. Six hours of inordinate pleasure; sometimes it’s just the simple things…