There are so many things I should have been doing- a book deadline in just over a week for one thing. But the boat is due out of the water next week and there is just such a good spell of mild settled weather at the moment. Anyway, I like deadlines, I love the whooshing sound they make as they going flying past, rather like waves rushing under the boat on a lively downwind passage. It was one of those drear, late October days you hope will stay dry and it did. High tide was 2pm-ish, a whopping 13.7 metre spring tide so there’ll be no messing with that in the Bristol Channel! Nutmeg locked out of the barrage at 11.30 together with a small motor fishing boat. There will be two hours of flood remaining- a nice hop up-channel, or so I thought. But there was little wind and it was a north-easterly headwind (of course), so it meant tacking ever so slowly up-channel. An hour after putting to sea I hadn’t made a mile.

But the wind did pick up a little and I gave a little whoop when the GPS clicked over to show 2 knots of speed. Apart for the dim outline of a ship on the horizon, there wasn’t another vessel in sight. Glorious. Then I spotted a red sail with a topsail aloft. Even in the distance I recognised Chloe and called Charlie up. We both changed course for a quick natter across the water. Soon after, the tide turned and so did I and enjoyed the gentle rush of a downwind return. In the midst of an empty sea an ocean-going tug suddenly appeared over my shoulder and crossed in front of me. He wasn’t tramping but his wash was enough to give the 19ft Shrimper a bit of a wake up. After a slow drift back up the River Ely it was 5 o’clock before I was back on the berth. An unremarkable but utterly satisfying day on the water.