Earlier in the season I did one of the evening sails, a bright breezy evening, which encouraged me to sail for Berkeley Pill. The conditions allowed me to make it across and into the entrance. My crew, my son and his partner, had not been there before so I decided I would sail to the very end of the pill; to the sluice gates. We tacked around the first two bends and were on a run to the next when there was a yell from the shore ‘turn around we’ve got a net across the water’. Quick harden up and tack. A fishing net across a pill, that was a first.

Last weekend I sailed into Brimms Pill and again decided to sail up it as far as I could. I spotted some ducks a little way off on the water; they didn’t fly off, as they became nearer I could see they were decoys. Again a quick harden up and tack, Heynek was crewing. Next there was a voice from the bank, I looked up into the barrels of a gun being held by a figure in camouflage clothing. This was another first. We made our peace with the figure, tied up to the bank, drank our beer and then set off for Lydney hoping ducks would not fly over our mast!

Cheers Peter